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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNI 
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THE 


WORKS 


REV.  ROBERT  HAtl,  A.E 


4    MEMOIR     OP    HIS     LIFE,     BY     DR.     GREGORY  ;     REMINISCENCES,     BY 

JOHN     GREENE,    ESQ,  ;     AND     HIS     CHARACTER     AS     A 

PREACHER,    BY    THE    REV.    JOHN    FOSTER. 


PUBLISHED   UNDER   THE    SUPERINTENDENCE    OF 

)LINTHUS   GREGORY,  LL.D.,  F.R.A.S., 

PROFESSOR   OF   MATHEMATICS   IN   THE   ROYAL   MILITAEV  ACADEMY; 


JOSEPH    BELCHER,    D.D. 


IN     POUR     VOLUMES. 

VOL.    I. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 
329    &    331   PEARL    STREET, 

F!RANKLIN   SQUARE 

1 8  5  8. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 

eight  hundred  and  forty-four,  by 

HAurER  &  Brothers, 

J  n  the  Office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


•^     1*        o  *  .     '      '         •         •       ^ 


LlJ 
CO 


62.17 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I. 


> 
> 


SERMONS  AND  CHARGES. 

>*  Page 

^             Modern  Infidelity  Considered 15 

DC                     Preface ]7 


P  Note  by  the  Editor '21 

•J  Sermon 23 

Note 53 

Reflections  on  War 55 

Preface 57 

lo  Sermon .  59 

«  Account  of  the  Cambridge  Benevolent  Society     ....  76 


The  Sentiments  proper  to  the  Present  Crisis  ....  79 

Advertisement 81 

Preface  to  the  Second  Edition 82 

Sermon 85 

The  Advantages  of  Knowledge  to  the  Loaver  Classes  .  113 

Advertisement 115 

Sermon 117 

5  On  the  Discouragements  and  Supports  of  the  Christian 

jjj                        Minister 127 

y.                    Dedication 129 

t                    Preface 131 

ft                     Discourse 135 


An  Address  to  the  Rev.  Eustace  Carey,  on  his  Designa- 
•w  TioN  AS  A  Christian  Missionary  to  India  ....     157 

A   Sermon   on   the    Death   of  Her  Royal  Highness   the 

Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales 177 

A  Funeral  Sermon  for  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ryland       ....     203 


(<mtl 


jrii  CONTENTS. 

CIRCULAR  LETTERS. 

Page 

Ox    THK    EXCELLKXCY    OF    THK    CHRISTIAN   DISPENSATION       .       .  225 

Ox    THE    ^VoRK    OF    THE    lIoLY    Sl'IRIT 233 

Ox  Hearing  the  AVord 24'' 

SERMON  NOT  BEFORE  PUBLISHED. 

Ox    THE    SuilSTlTUTH)N    OF    THE    IxNOCENT    FOR    THE    GuiLTY    .  261 

Note  by  the  Editor 263 

Sermon 265 


On  Terms  of  Communion 283 

Preface 2S5 

Introductory  Remarks 289 

PART  I. 

Arguments  for  Strict  Communion  considered 293 

SECTION   I. 

The  Argument  from  the  Order  of  Time  in  which  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  supposed  to  have  been  instituted     293 

section  il 

The  Argument  for  Strict  Communion  from  the  Order  of 
Words  in  the  Apostolic  Commission,  considered     .     .     .     304 

section    III. 

The  Argument  from  Apostolical  Precedent,  and  from  the  dif- 
ferent Significations  of  the  two  'Institutions,  considered    .     309 

SECTION   IV. 

Our  supposed  Opposition  to  the  Universal  Suffrages  of  the 
Church,  considered 316 

PART  II. 

The  Positive  Grounds  on  which  we  justify  the  Practice  of 
Mixed  Communion 321 

SECTION   I. 

Free  Communion  urged,  from  the  Obligation  of  Brotherly 
T^ve 321 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

SECTION    II. 

Page 

The  Practice  of  Open  Communion  argued,  from  the  express 
Injunction  of  Scripture  respecting  the  Conduct  to  be  main- 
tained by  sincere  Christians  who  differ  in  their  Religious 
Sentiments 324 

SECTION    HI. 

Pedobaptists  a  Part  of  the  true  Church,  and  their  Exclusion 
on  that  account  unlawful 332 

SECTION    IV. 

The  Exclusion  of  Pedobaptists  from  the  Lord's  Table  con- 
sidered as  a  Punishment 337 

SECTION    V. 

On  the  Impossibility  of  reducing  the  Practice  of  Strict  Com- 
munion to  any  general  Principle 344 

SECTION    VI. 

The  Impolicy  of  the  Practice  of  Strict  Communion  considered     351 
Postscript 360 

On  the  Essential  Difference  between  Christian  Baptism 

AND  THE  Baptism  of  John 363 

Preface 365 

Reply  to  the  Rev.  Joseph  Kinghorn,  being  a  further 
Vindication  of  the  Practice  of  Free  Communion     .     .     391 

Preface 398 

PART  I. 

The  Fundamental  Position ;  or,  the  supposed  necessary 
Connexion  between  the  two  positive  Institutes  of  Chris- 
tianity examined 401 

chapter  I. 

Remarks  on  Mr.  Kinghorn's  Statement  of  the  Controversy      401 

chapter  II. 

His  Attempt  to  establish  the  Connexion  contended  lor  from 
the  Apostolic  Commission  and  Primitive  Precedent     .     .     406 

chapter  ni. 

The  supposed  necessary  Connexion  between  the  two  posi- 
tive Institutes  further  discussed,  wherein  other  Arguments 
are  examined 423 


CONTENTS. 

PART  II. 

Pag 

The  C'ollaleral  Topics  introduced  by  Mr.  Kinghorn  con- 
sidered     436 

CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Charge  of  dispensing  witli  a  Cliristian  Ordinance  con- 
sidered      436 

CHAPTER   V. 

An  Inquiry  how  far  the  Practice  of  Mixed  Communion  af- 
fects the  Grounds  of  Dissent  from  the  Church  of  England 
and  from  the  Churcii  of  Rome 443 

CHAPTER    VI. 

The  Propriety  of  appealing,  in  this  Controversy,  to  the  pe 
culiar  Principles  of  the  Pedobaptists,  briefly  examined 
and  discussed 452 

PART  III. 

Li  which  the  Insufficiency  of  the  Reply  Mr.  Kinghorn  has 
made  to  the  principal  Arguments  urged  for  Mixed  Com- 
munion is  exposed 457 

CHAPTER    Vn. 

His  Reply  to  the  Argument  deduced  from  the  Scriptural 
Injunction  of  Mutual  Forbearance  and  Brotherly  Love, 
considered 457 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

On  the  Argument  for  Mixed  Communion  founded  on  the 

Pedobaptists  being  a  part  of  the  true  Church    ....     470 

CHAPTER   IX. 

The  Injustice  of  the  Exclusion  of  other  Denominations  con- 
sidered as  a  Punishment 474 

CHAPTER    X. 

On  the  Contrariety  of  the  Maxims  and  Sentiments  of  the 
Advocates  of  Strict  Communion  to  those  which  prevailed 
in  the  early  Ages ;  in  which  the  Innovation  imputed  to 
them  by  the  Author  is  vindicated  from  the  Charge  of 
Misrepresentation 481 

CHAPTER   XI. 

Conclusion 493 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED,  WITH  RESPECT  TO  ITS 
INFLUENCE  ON  SOCIETY: 


IN 

A     SERMON 

PREACHED    AT 

THE  BAPTIST  MEETING,  CAMBRIDGE. 


Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fbols.— Si  Paul. 

Sunt  qui  in  fortunae  jam  casibus,  omnia  ponant, 

Et  nallo  credant  mundum  rectore  moveri, 

Natnra  volvente  vices  et  tucis,  et  anni ; 

Atque  ideo  intrepidi  qusecunque  altaria  tanguui.— Jmu 


PREFACE. 


The  author  knows  not  whether  it  be  necessary  to  apologize  for  th« 
extraordmary  length  of  this  sermon,  which  so  much  exceeds  the  usual 
limits  of  public  discourses ;  for  it  is  only  for  fhe  reader  to  conceive 
(by  a  fiction  of  the  imagination,  if  he  pleases  so  to  consider  it)  that 
the  patience  of  his  audience  indulged  him  with  their  attention  during 
its  delivery.  The  fact  is,  not  being  in  the  habit  of  writing  his  ser- 
mons, this  discourse  was  not  committed  to  paper  till  after  it  was 
delivered:  so  that  the  phraseology  may  probably  vary,  and  the  bulk 
be  somewhat  extended :  but  the  substance  is  certainly  retained. 

He  must  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  religious  public  for  having 
blended  so  little  theology  with  it.  He  is  fully  aware  the  chief  attention 
of  a  Christian  minister  should  be  occupied  in  explaining  the  doctrines 
and  enforcing  the  duties  of  genuine  Christianity.  Nor  is  he  charge- 
able, he  hopes,  in  the  exercise  of  his  public  functions,  with  any 
remarkable  deviation  from  tliis  rule  of  conduct :  yet  he  is  equally 
convinced,  excursions  into  other  topics  are  sometimes  both  lawful  and 
necessary.  The  versatility  of  error  demands  a  correspondent  variety 
in  the  methods  of  defending  truth :  and  from  whom  have  the  public 
more  right  to  expect  its  defence,  in  opposition  to  the  encroachments 
of  error  and  infidelity,  than  from  those  who  profess  to  devote  their 
studies  and  their  lives  to  the  advancement  of  virtue  and  religion? 
Accordingly,  a  multitude  of  publications  on  these  subjects,  equally 
powerful  in  argument  and  impressive  in  manner,  have  issued  fi'om 
divines  of  different  persuasions,  which  must  be  allowed  to  have  done 
the  utmost  honour  to  the  clerical  profession.  The  most  luminous 
statements  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  on  historical  grounds,  have 
been  made ;  the  petulant  cavils  of  infidels  satisfactorily  refuted  ;  and 
their  ignorance,  if  not  put  to  shame,  at  least  amply  exposed  :  so  that 
revelation,  as  far  as  truth  and  reason  can  prevail,  is  on  all  sides 
triumphant. 

There  is  one  point  of  view,  however,  in  which  the  respective  sys- 
tems remain  to  be  examined,  which,  though  hitherto  little  considered, 
is  forced  upon  our  attention  by  the  present  conduct  of  our  adversaries  ; 
that  is,  their  injiuence  07i  society.  The  controversy  appears  to  have 
taken  a  new  turn.  The  advocates  of  infidelity,  baflled  in  the  field  of 
argument,  though  unwilling  to  relinquish  the  contest,  have  changed 
their  mode  of  attack  ;  and  seem  less  disposed  to  impugn  the  authority 
ihan  to  supersede  the  use  of  revealed  religion,  by  giving  such  repre- 

VOL.  I.— B 


18  PREFACE. 

sentations  of  man  and  of  society  as  are  calculated  to  make  its  sanc- 
tions appear  mireasonahle  and  unnecessary.  Their  aim  is  not  so 
much  to  disrreilit  tlio  jirctensions  of  any  particular  religion  as  to  set 
aside  the  principles  conunon  to  all. 

To  obliterate  the  sense  of  Deity,  of  moral  sanctions,  and  a  future 
world, — and  hy  these  means  to  prepare  the  waj  lor  the  total  subver- 
sion of  every  institution,  both  social  and  religious,  which  men  have 
been  hitherto  accustomed  to  revere, — is  evidently  the  principal  object 
of  modern  skeptics  ;  the  first  sophists  who  have  avowed  an  attempt 
to  govern  the  world,  without  inculcating  the  persuasion  of  a  superior 
power.  It  might  well  excite  our  surprise  to  beiiold  an  effort  to  shake 
off  the  yoke  of  religion,  which  was  totally  unknown  during  the  preva- 
lence of  gross  superstition,  reserved  for  a  period  of  the  world  distin- 
guished from  every  other  by  the  possession  of  a  revelation  more  pure, 
more  perfect,  and  better  authenticated  than  the  enlightened  sages  of 
antiquity  ever  ventured  to  anticipate,  were  we  not  fully  persuaded  the 
immaculate  holiness  of  this  revelation  is  precisely  that  w'hich  renders 
it  disgusting  to  men  who  are  determined  at  all  events  to  retain  their 
vices.  Our  Saviour  furnishes  the  solution: — They  love  darkness 
rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  are  evil ;  neither  will  they  come 
to  the  light,  lest  their  deeds  should  be  reproved. 

While  all  the  religions,  the  Jewish  excepted,  which,  previous  to 
the  promulgation  of  Christianity,  prevailed  in  the  world,  partly  the 
contrivance  of  human  policy,  partly  the  offspring  of  ignorant  fear, 
mixed  wddi  the  mutilated  remains  of  traditionary  revelation,  were 
favourable  to  the  indulgence  of  some  vices,  and  but  feebly  restrained 
the  practice  of  others  ;  between  vice  of  every  sort  and  in  eveiy  degree, 
and  the  religion  of  Jesus,  there  subsists  an  irreconcilable  enmity,  an 
eternal  discord.  The  dominion  of  Christianity  being  in  the  very 
essence  of  it  the  dominion  of  virtue,  we  need  look  no  further  for  the 
sources  of  hostility  in  any  who  oppose  it,  than  their  attachment  to 
vice  and  disorder. 

This  view  of  the  controversy,  if  it  be  just,  demonstrates  its  supreme 
importance ;  and  furnishes  the  strongest  plea  with  every  one  with 
whom  it  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  vice  or  virtue,  delu- 
sion or  truth,  governs  the  Avorld,  to  exert  his  talents,  in  whatever  pro- 
portion they  are  possessed,  in  contending  earnestly  for  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints.  In  such  a  crisis,  is  it  not  best  for  Christians 
of  all  denominations,  that  they  may  better  concentrate  their  forces 
against  the  common  adversary,  to  suspend  for  the  present  their  in- 
ternal disputes ;  imitating  the  policy  of  wise  states,  who  have  never 
failed  to  consider  the  invasion  of  an  enemy  as  the  signal  for  termi- 
nating the  contests  of  party?  Internal  peace  is  the  best  fruit  we  can 
reap  from  external  danger.  The  momentous  contest  at  issue  between 
the  Christian  church  and  infidels  may  instruct  us  how  trivial,  for  the 
most  part,  are  the  controversies  of  its  members  with  each  other ;  and 
that  the  different  ceremonies,  opinions,  and  practices  by  which  they 
are  distinguished  con-espond  to  the  variety  of  feature  and  complexion 
discernible  in  the  offspring  of  the  same  parent,  among  whom  there 


PREFACE.  19 

subsists  tlte  greatest  family  likeness.  May  it  please  God  so  to  dis- 
pose the  minds  of  Christians  of  every  visible  church  anil  community, 
that  Ephraim  may  no  longer  vex  Judah,  nor  Judah  Ephraiin ;  that  the 
only  rivalry  felt  in  future  may  be,  who  shall  most  advance  the  inter- 
ests of  our  common  Christianity;  and  the  only  provocation  sustained, 
that  of  provoking  each  other  to  love  and  good  works !  When,  at  the 
distance  of  more  than  half  a  century,  Christianity  was  assaulted  by  a 
Woolston,  a  Tindal,  and  a  Morgan,  it  was  ably  supported,  both  by 
clergymen  of  the  established  church,  and  writers  among  Protestant 
dissenters.  The  labours  of  a  Clarke  and  a  Butler  were  associated 
with  those  of  a  Doddridge,  a  Leland,  and  a  Lardner,  with  such  equal 
reputation  and  success,  as  to  make  it  evident  that  the  intrinsic  excel- 
lence of  religion  needs  not  the  aid  of  external  appendages ;  but  that, 
with  or  without  a  dowry,  her  charms  are  of  sufficient  power  to  fix  and 
engage  the  heart. 

The  writer  of  this  discourse  will  feel  himself  happy,  should  his 
example  stimulate  any  of  his  brethren  of  superior  abilities  to  con- 
tribute their  exertions  in  so  good  a  cause.  His  apology  for  not  enter- 
ing more  at  large  into  the  proofs  of  the  being  of  a  God,*  and  the  evi- 
dences of  Christianity,!  is,  that  these  subjects  have  been  already 
handled  with  great  ability  by  various  writers  ;  and  that  he  wished 
rather  to  confine  himself  to  one  view  of  the  subject — The  total  incom- 
patibility of  skeptical  principles  with  the  existence  of  society.  Should 
his  life  be  spared,  he  may  probably  at  some  future  time  enter  into  a 
fuller  and  more  particular  examination  of  the  infidel  philosophy,  both 
with  respect  to  its  speculative  principles  and  its  practical  effects, — its 
influence  on  society  and  on  the  individual.  In  the  mean  time  he 
humbly  consecrates  this  discourse  to  the  honour  of  that  Saviour,  who, 
when  the  means  of  a  more  liberal  offering  are  wanting,  commends  the 
widow's  mite. 

Cambridge,  January  18,  1801. 

*  See  an  excellent  sermon  on  Atheism  by  Hie  Rev.  Mr.  Estlin,  of  Bristol,  at  whose  meeting  the 
iubsiance  oC  this  discourse  was  first  preached.  In  the  sermon  referred  to,  the  argument  for  the 
existence  of  a  Deity  is  slated  with  tlie  utmost  clearness  and  precision ;  and  the  sophistry  of  Dupuis, 
a  French  infidel,  refuted  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner. 

t  It  is  alm^ist  superfluous  to  name  a  work  so  universally  known  as  Dr.  Paley's  View  of  the  Evi- 
dences of  Christianity,  winch  is  probably,  without  exception,  the  most  clear  and  satisfactory  stats- 
ment  of  the  historical  proofs  of  the  Christian  religion  ever  exhibited  in  any  age  or  country 

B2 


NOTE  BY  THE  EDITOR. 


Nothing  can  be  more  erroneous  than  the  idea,  entertained  by  a  few  p«STSons, 
that  Mr.  Hall  recited  his  sermons  memoriler,  from  the  study  of  a  previous3y  writ- 
ten composition.  His  eloquence  was  the  spontaneous  result  of  his  vigorous  and 
richly  stored  intellect,  and  needed  not  the  aid  of  the  usual  expedients  of  men  of 
ordinary  mind.  There  is  great  reason  to  believe,  that  during  the  entire  extent  of 
his  ministry  he  only  committed  one  sermon  to  memory  from  a  previously  com- 
posed manuscript,  and  that  was  the  second  in  this  volume,  "  Reflections  on  War." 
It  was  preached  on  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  at  the  termination  of  a  long  and  dread- 
ful war ;  it  was  a  publicly  announced  sermon,  to  aid  the  funds  of  a  benevolent 
society  ;  persons  of  diflerent  religious  and  political  sentiments  ware  expected  to 
be  assembled,  at  a  time  when  the  violent  party-feelings  excited  by  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789  had  but  little  subsided  ;  and  Mr.  Hall,  afraid  of  yielding  to 
his  own  emotions  on  such  an  occasion,  and  perhaps  of  disturbing  the  feelings  of 
harmony  which  it  was  hoped  would  prevail,  thought  it  advisable  for  once  to  deviate 
from  his  usual  course.  That  course  was,  very  briefly  to  sketch,  commonly  upon 
a  sheet  of  letter-paper  (in  a  few  cases  rather  more  fully),  the  plan  of  the  proposed 
discourse,  marking  the  divisions,  specifying  a  few  texts,  and  sometimes  writing 
the  first  sentence.  This  he  regarded  as  "  digging  a  channel  for  his  thoughts  to 
flow  in."  Then,  calling  into  exercise  the  power  of  abstraction,  which  he  pos- 
sessed in  a  degree  I  never  saw  equalled,  he  would,  whether  alone  or  not,  pursue 
his  trains  of  thought,  retrace  and  extend  them,  until  the  whole  were  engraven  on 
his  mind  ;  and  when  once  so  fixed  in  their  entire  connexion,  they  were  never 
after  obliterated.  The  result  was  on  all  occasions  the  same ;  so  that,  without 
recurring  to  the  ordinary  expedients,  or  loading  his  memory  with  words  and 
phrases,  he  uniformly  brought  his  mind,  with  an  unburdened  vigour  and  elasticity 
to  bear  upon  its  immediate  purpose,  recalling  the  selected  train  of  thought,  and 
communicating  it  to  others,  in  diction  tlie  most  felicitous,  appropriate,  and  im- 
pressive. This  was  uniformly  the  case  with  regard  to  the  tenor  and  substance 
of  his  discourses ;  but  the  most  striking  and  impressive  passages  were  often, 
strictly  speaking,  extemporaneous. 

On  various  occasions  I  have  ascertained  the  correctness  of  his  recollection  as 
to  trains  of  thought  and  matters  of  arrangement.  Thus,  on  drawing  his  atten- 
tion fully  to  an  interesting  conversation  which  occurred  nearly  thirty  years  before, 
he  has  given  as  vivid  and  graphic  a  sketch  of  the  persons  present,  their  positions 
in  the  room,  and  of  the  main  topics  discussed,  as  though  all  had  occurred  in  the 
preceding  week.  So,  again,  with  respect  to  sermons  preached  early  in  the  pres- 
ent century,  and  which  seemed  to  have  entirely  escaped  from  his  recollection ; 
when  a  reference  to  some  illustration,  or  the  mode  of  treating  a  subsidiary  topic, 
has  supplied  the  adequate  clew,  he  has  accurately  described  the  plan,  the  rea- 
soning, the  object  of  the  discourse,  the  illustrations  employed,  the  principal  texts 
adduced,  &c.,  dwelling  especially,  as  was  always  most  natural  to  him,  upon  the 
parts  that  he  regarded  as  defective. 

The  history  of  the  following  sermon,  on  "  Modem  Infidelity,"  may  serve  still 
tlirther  to  illustrate  the  peculiar  structure  of  Mr.  Hall's  intellect.  He  preached 
it  first  at  Bristol,  in  October,  1800,  and  again  at  Cambridge  in  the  month  of 
November.  Having  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  friends,  and  consented  to 
its  publication,  there  remained  two  difficulties,  that  of  writing  down  the  sermon 
(of  which  not  a  single  sentence  was  upon  paper),  and  that  of  superintending  tlu 


22  NOTE  BY  THE  EDITOR. 

press.  1,  who  then  rosulotl  at  Cainbrulgo,  ofTered  to  undertake  both  these,  pro- 
vided he  would  eniT^ije  not  to  go  I'.irther  tlian  ten  niiU^s  from  Cambridge,  and 
allow  me  to  follow  iiim,  wherever  he  went,  to  obtain  "copy,"  as  it  should  be 
needed.  He  aeeedeil  to  that  part  of  the  arrangement  which  related  to  the  print- 
Ing  ;  but  would  not  consent  that  I  should  be  his  amanuensis  on  that  occasion. 
The  writing,  therefore,  he  undertook  himself,  but  with  great  reluctance,  on 
account  of  the  severe  pain  which  even  then  (and,  indeed,  much  earlier)  he  expe- 
rienced when  remaining  long  in  a  sitting  posture.  The  work,  in  consequence, 
proceeded  slowly,  and  with  many  interruptions.  At  first  I  obtained  from  him 
eight  pages,  and  took  them  to  the  printer ;  after  a  few  days,  four  pages  more ; 
then  two  or  three  pages  ;  then  a  more  violent  attack  of  his  distressing  pain  in  the 
back  compelled  him  to  write  two  or  three  pages  m7»7c  lying  on  the  Jloor ;  and  soon 
afterward  a  still  more  violent  paroxysm  occasioned  a  longer  suspension  of  his 
labour.  After  an  interval  of  a  week,  the  work  was  renewed  at  the  joint  entreaty 
of  myself  and  other  friends.  It  was  pursued  in  the  same  manner,  two  or  three 
pages  being  obtained  for  the  printer  at  one  time,  a  similar  portion  after  a  day  or 
two,  until,  at  the  end  of  seven  weeks,  the  task  was  completed.  During  the  whole 
lime  of  the  composition,  thus  conducted,  Mr.  Hall  never  saw  a  single  page  of  the 
printer's  work.  When  I  applied  for  more  "cop)-,"  he  asked  what  it  was  that  he  had 
written  last,  and  then  proceeded.  Verj"  often,  after  he  had  given  me  a  small  por- 
tion, he  would  inquire  if  he  had  written  it  nearly  in  the  words  which  he  had 
employed  in  delivering  the  sermon  orall)'.  After  he  had  written  down  the  striking 
apostrophe  which  occurs  at  about  page  76  of  most  of  the  editions — "  Eternal  God  ! 
on  what  are  thine  enemies  intent !  what  are  those  enterprises  of  guilt  and  horror, 
that,  for  the  safety  of  their  performers,  require  to  be  enveloped  in  a  darkness 
which  the  eye  of  Heaven  must  not  penetrate  .'" — he  asked,  "  Did  I  say  penetrate, 
sir,  when  I  preached  if?"  "Yes."  "Do  you  think,  sir,  I  may  venture  to  alter 
it?  for  no  man  who  considered  the  force  of  the  English  language  would  use  a 
word  of  three  syllables  there,  but  from  absolute  necessity."  "  You  are  dt)ubtless 
at  Uberty  to  alter  it,  if  you  think  well."  "  Then  be  so  good,  sir,  to  take  your 
pencil,  and  for  penetrate  put  pierce ;  pierce  is  the  word,  sir,  and  the  only  word  to 
be  used  there."  1  have  now  the  evidence  of  this  before  me,  in  the  entire  manu- 
script, which  I  carefully  preserve  among  my  richest  literary  treasures. 

At  the  end  of  seven  weeks  Mr.  Hall's  labour,  thus  conducted,  being,  greatly  to 
Ms  delight,  brought  to  a  close,  I  presented  him  with  a  complete  copy  of  his  printed 
sermon,  7iot  one  word  of  which  he  had  seen  in  its  progress. 

During  this  interval  he  had  preached  at  least  twenty  times,  had  paid  his  pas- 
toral visits,  as  usual,  had  been  often  in  the  society  of  the  literary  men  with  whom 
he  then  associated,  and  had,  with  all  his  characteristic  ardour,  carried  on,  simul- 
taneously, two  distinct  courses  of  reading. 

I  mistake  greatly,  if,  after  the  perusal  of  this  simple  narrative,  the  reader  will 
not  turn  to  the  sermon  with  additional  relish,  and  meditate  with  augmented  plea- 
sure upon  the  peculiarities  of  tliis  ine«t  vJiab'e  production,  and  the  smgular 
character  of  its  author's  mind. 

OT.INTHUS  GREGORY. 

Royal  Military  Academy, 
June  1,  1S31 


A   SERMON. 


Ephes.  ii.   12. 

Without  God  in  the  toorld. 

As  the  Christian  ministry  is  established  for  the  instruction  of  men, 
throughout  every  age,  in  truth  and  holiness,  it  must  adapt  itself  to  the 
ever-shifting  scenes  of  the  moral  world,  and  stand  ready  to  repel  the 
attacks  of  impiety  and  error,  under  whatever  form  they  may  appear 
The  church  and  the  world  form  two  societies  so  distinct,  and  are 
governed  by  such  opposite  principles  and  maxims,  that,  as  well  from 
this  contrariety  as  from  the  express  warnings  of  Scripture,  true 
Christians  must  look  for  a  state  of  warfare,  with  this  consoling  as- 
surance, that  the  church,  like  the  burning  bush  beheld  by  Moses  in 
the  land  of  Midian,  may  be  encompassed  with  flames,  but  will  never 
be  consumed.  ' 

When  she  was  delivered  from  the  persecuting  power  of  Rome,  she 
only  experienced  a  change  of  trials.  The  oppression  of  external  vio- 
lence was  followed  by  the  more  dangerous  and  insidious  attacks  of 
internal  enemies.  The  freedom  of  inquiry  claimed  and  asserted  at 
the  Reformation  degenerated,  in  the  hands  of  men  who  professed  the 
principles  without  possessing  the  spirit  of  the  Reformers,  into  a  fond- 
ness for  speculative  refinements  ;  and  consequently  into  a  source  of 
dispute,  faction,  and  heresy.  While  Protestants  attended  more  to  the 
points  on  which  they  differed  than  to  those  in  which  they  agreed, — ■ 
while  more  zeal  was  employed  in  settling  ceremonies  and  defending 
subtleties  than  in  enforcing  plain  revealed  truths, — the  lovely  fruits  of 
peace  and  charity  perished  under  the  storms  of  controversy. 

In  this  disjointed  and  disordered  state  of  the  Christian  church,  they 
who  never  looked  into  the  interior  of  Christianity  were  apt  to  suspect, 
that  to  a  subject  so  fruitful  in  particular  disputes  must  attach  a  general 
uncertainty;  and  that  a  religion  founded  on  revelation  could  never 
have  occasioned  such  discordancy  of  principle  and  practice  among  its 
disciples.  Thus  infidelity  is  the  joint  offspring  of  an  irreligious  tem- 
per and  unholy  speculation,  employed,  not  in  examining  the  evidences 
of  Christianity,  but  in  detecting  the  vices  and  imperfections  of  pro- 
•fessing  Christians.  It  has  passed  through  various  stages,  each  dis- 
tinguished by  higher  gradations  of  impiety ;  for  when  men  arrogantly 
abandon  their  guide,  and  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  on  the  light  o< 


•>4  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

Iioavon,  it  is  wisrly  orJ;iiiictl  th:it  their  errors  slmll  multiply  at  every 
step,  until  their  cxtravasjiuice  eonfutes  itself,  and  the  luisehief  of  then 
principles  works  its  own  antidote.  That  su(;h  has  been  the  progress 
of  inlidelitv  will  be  obvious  from  a  slight  survey  of  its  history. 

Lord  IIerbf.ut,  the  first  and  purest  of  our  English  freethinkers, 
who  llourished  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First,  did 
not  so  much  impugn  the  doctrine  or  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures,  as 
attempt  to  supersede  their  necessity,  by  endeavouring  to  show  that  the 
great  principles  of  the  unity  of  God,  a  moral  government,  and  a  future 
world,  are  taught  with  sufllcient  clearness  by  the  light  of  nature. 
BoLixoBROKE,  and  some  of  his  successors,  advanced  much  farther, 
and  attempted  to  invalidate  the  proofs  of  the  moral  character  of  the 
Deity,  and  consequently  all  expectations  of  rewards  and  punishments ; 
leaving  the  Supreme  Being  no  other  perfections  than  tliose  which  be- 
long to  a  first  cause,  or  almighty  contriver.  After  him,  at  a  con- 
siderable distance,  followed  IIuihe,  the  most  subtle,  if  not  the  most 
philosophical,  of  the  Deists  ;  who,  by  perplexing  the  relations  of  cause 
and  etTect,  boldly  aimed  to  introduce  a  universal  skepticism,  and  to 
pour  a  more  than  Egyptian  darkness  into  the  whole  region  of  morals. 
Since  his  time  skeptical  writers  have  sprung  up  in  abundance,  and 
infidelity  has  allured  multitudes  to  its  standard  :  the  young  and  super- 
ficial by  its  dexterous  sophistry,  the  vain  by  the  literary  fame  of  its 
champions,  and  the  profligate  by  the  licentiousness  of  its  principles. 
Atheism  the  most  undisguised  has  at  length  begun  to  make  its 
appearance. 

Animated  by  numbers,  and  imboldened  by  success,  the  infidels  of 
the  present  day  have  given  a  new  direction  to  their  efforts,  and  im- 
pressed a  new  character  on  the  ever-growing  mass  of  their  impious 
speculations. 

By  uniting  more  closely  with  each  other,  by  giving  a  sprinkling  of 
irreligion  to  all  their  literary  productions,  they  aim  to  engross  the 
formation  of  the  public  ntiind ;  and,  amid  the  \varmest  professions  of 
attachment  to  virtue,  to  effect  an  entire  disruption  of  morality  from 
religion.  Pretending  to  be  the  teachers  of  virtue  and  the  guides  of 
life,  they  propose  to  revolutionize  the  morals  of  mankind  ;  to  regen- 
erate the  world  by  a  process  entirely  new ;  and  to  rear  the  temple  of 
virtue,  not  merely  without  the  aid  of  religion,  but  on  the  renunciation 
of  its  principles,  and  the  derision  of  its  sanctions.  Their  party  has 
derived  a  great  accession  of  numbers  and  strength  from  events  the 
most  momentous  and  astonishing  in  the  political  world,  which  have 
divided  the  sentiments  of  Europe  between  hope  and  terror  ;  and  which, 
however  they  may  issue,  have,  for  the  present,  swelled  the  ranks  of 
infidelity.  So  rapidly,  indeed,  has  it  advanced  since  this  crisis,  that  a 
great  majority  on  the  Continent,  and  in  England  a  considerable  pro- 
portion of  those  who  pursue  literature  as  a  profession,*  may  justly  be 
considered  as  the  open  or  disguised  abetters  of  atheism. 

With  respect  to  the  skeptical  and  religious  systems,  the  inquiry  at 

*  By  those  who  pursue  literature  as  a  profession,  the  author  -wonld  be  understood  to  mean  that 
nameroos  class  of  literary  men  who  draw  their  principal  subsistene*  from  their  writings. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED  2b 

present  is  not  so  much  which  is  the  truest  in  speculation,  as  which  is 
the  most  useful  in  practice :  or,  in  other  words,  whether  morality  will 
be  best  promoted  by  considering  it  as  a  part  of  a  great  and  compre- 
hensive law,  emanating  from  the  will  of  a  supreme,  omnipotent  legis- 
lator; or  as  a  mere  expedient,  adapted  to  our  present  situation, 
enforced  by  no  other  motives  than  those  which  arise  from  the  pros- 
pects and  interests  of  the  present  state.  The  absurdity  of  atheism 
having  been  demonstrated  so  often  and  so  clearly  by  many  eminent 
men  that  this  part  of  the  subject  is  exhausted,  I  should  hasten  imme- 
diately to  what  I  have  more  particular!}''  in  view,  were  I  not  appre- 
hensive a  discourse  of  this  kind  may  be  expected  to  contain  some 
statement  of  the  argument  in  proof  of  a  Deity ;  which,  therefore,  I 
shall  present  in  as  few  and  plain  words  as  possible. 

When  we  examine  a  watch,  or  any  other  piece  of  machinery,  we 
mstantly  perceive  marks  of  design.  The  arrangement  of  its  several 
parts,  and  the  adaptation  of  its  movements  to  one  result,  show  it  to  be 
a  contrivance;  nor  do  we  ever  imagine  the  faculty  of  contriving  to  be 
in  the  watch  itself,  but  in  a  separate  agent.  If  we  turn  from  art  to  na- 
ture, we  behold  a  vast  magazine  of  contrivances  ;  we  see  innumerable 
objects  replete  with  the  most  exquisite  design.  The  human  eye, 
for  example,  is  formed  with  admirable  skill  for  the  purpose  of  sight, 
the  ear  for  the  function  of  hearing.  As  in  the  productions  of  art  we 
never  think  of  ascribing  the  power  of  contrivance  to  the  machine  itself, 
so  we  are  certain  the  skill  displayed  in  the  human  structure  is  not  a 
property  of  man,  since  he  is  very  imperfectly  acquainted  with  his  own 
formation.  If  there  be  an  inseparable  relation  between  the  ideas  of  a 
contrivance  and  a  contriver,  and  it  be  evident,  in  regard  to  the  human 
structure,  the  designing  agent  is  not  man  himself,  there  must  undenia- 
bly be  some  separate  invisible  being,  who  is  his  former.  This  great 
Being  we  mean  to  indicate  by  the  appellation  of  Deity. 

This  reasoning  admits  but  of  oiie  reply.  Why,  it  will  be  said,  may 
we  not  suppose  the  world  has  always  continued  as  it  is ;  that  is,  that 
there  has  been  a  constant  succession  of  finite  beings,  appearing  and 
disappearing  on  the  earth  from  all  eternity  ?  I  answer,  whatever  is 
supposed  to  have  occasioned  this  constant  succession,  exclusive  of  an 
intelligent  cause,  will  never  account  for  the  undeniable  marks  of  de- 
sign visible  in  all  finite  beings.  Nor  is  the  absurdity  of  supposing  a 
contrivance  without  a  contriver  diminished  by  this  imaginary  succes- 
sion ;  but  rather  increased,  by  being  repeated  at  every  step  of  the 
series. 

Besides,  an  eternal  succession  of  finite  beings  involves  in  it  a  con- 
tradiction, and  is  therefore  plainly  impossible.  As  the  supposition  is 
made  to  get  quit  of  the  idea  of  any  one  having  existed  from  eternity, 
each  of  the  beings  in  the  succession  must  have  begun  in  time  :  but  the 
succession  itself  is  eternal.  We  have  then  the  succession  of  beings 
infinitely  earlier  than  any  being  in  the  succession ;  or,  in  other  words, 
a  series  of  beings  running  on,  ad  injinitum,  before  it  reached  any 
particular  being,  which  is  absurd. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  manifest  there  must  be  some  etenial 


26  MODERN  LXITDELITY  CONSIDERED 

B«iae.  or  nothixuj  could  ever  have  existed ;  and  since  the  beings 
which,  we  behold  bear  in  their  whole  structure  evident  marks  of  wis- 
dom and  design,  it  is  equally  certain  that  he  who  formed  them  is  a 
wise  and  mselliieat  asent. 

To  prove  the  unitv  of  this  great  Being,  in  opposition  to  a  plurality 
ot*  gods,  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  recourse  to  metaphysical  abstrac- 
tioQS.     It  is  sulScitf  -rve,  that  the  notion  of  more  than  one 

anchor  of  nature  is  .  -  -  ii:  with  that  harmonv  of  design  which 
•■  er  works  ;  tiia;  ;;  explains  no  appearances,  is  supported  by 

L  r.  and  serves  no  purpose,  but  to  embarrass  and  perplex  our 

C-    .  :"-?. 

'^  .re  the  proofs  of  the  existence  of  that  great   and  glorious 

y       ,  a  we  denominate  God  ;  and  it  is  not  presumption  to  say.  it 

:~ —  :  .e  to  dnd  another  truth  in  the  whole  compass  of  morals 

whicb.  aecordins  to  the  justest  laws  of  reasoning,  admits  of  such  strict 
aad  risorous  demonstration. 

But  I  proceed  to  the  more  immediate  object  of  this  discourse,  which, 
ss  has  been  already  intimated,  is  not  so  much  to  evince  the  falsehood 
of  skepdeism  as  a  theory,  as  to  display  its  mischievous  effects,  con- 
trasted with  those  which  result  from  the  belief  of  a  Deity  and  a  future 
state.  The  subject,  viewed  in  this  light,  may  be  considered  under 
two  aspects :  the  influence  of  the  opposite  systems  on  the  principles 
of  morals  and  on  the  formation  of  character.  The  nrst  may  be  styled 
their  direct,  the  latter  their  equally  important,  but  indirect,  consequence 
and  tendency. 

L  The  skeptical  or  irreligious  system  subverts  the  whole  founda- 
tion of  morals.     It  may  be  assumed  as  a  maxim,  that  no  person  can 
be  r?f:"irei  to  act  contrary  to  his  greatest  good,  or  his  highest  interest, 
-  viewed  in  relation  to  the  whole  duration  of  his  being 
Z     -  -ity  to  fore£0  our  own  interest  paTtiallif,  to  sacrifice  a 

smaiier  pleasure  for  the  sake  of  a  greater,  to  incur  a  present  evil  in 
pursuit  of  a  distam  good  of  more  consequence.  In  a  word,  to  arbi- 
trate amonj  interfering  chirms  of  inclination  is  the  moral  arithmetic 
of  human  life.  But  to  risk  the  happiness  of  the  whole  duration  of 
our  being  in  any  case  whatever,  were  it  possible,  would  be  foolish ; 
because  the  sacrifice  must,  by  the  nature  of  it,  be  so  great  as  to  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  compensation. 

As  the  present  world,  on  skeptical  principles,  is  the  only  place  of 
recompense,  whenever  the  practice  of  virtue  fails  to  promise  the  greatest 
sum  of  present  good, — eases  vvhich  often  occrar  in  reality,  and  much 
ofi:ener  in  appearance, — every  motive  to  virtuous  conduct  is  superseded  ; 
a  deviation  from  rectitude  becomes  the  part  of  wisdom ;  and  should 
the  path  of  virtue,  in  addition  to  this,  be  obstructed  by  disgrace,  tor- 
ment, or  death,  to  persevere  would  be  madness  and  folly,  and  a  viola 
don  of  the  first  ami  most  essential  law  of  nature.  Virtue,  on  these 
praciples,  beinff  in  numberless  instances  at  war  with  self-preservation, 
never  can.  or  ocmht  *o  become,  a  fixed  habit  of  the  mind. 

The  sv-  ~  is  not  onlv  incapable  of  armmg  virtue  for 


MODERN  LNTroELITY  CONSIDERED.  21 

great  and  tr^^ing  occasions,  bnC  leaves  it  tmsnpported  in  the  most  ordi 
nary  occurrences.  In  vain  vrill  its  advocates  appeal  to  a  moral  sense 
to  benevolence  and  sympathy ;  for  it  is  undeniable  that  these  impolses 
may  be  overcome.  In  vain  will  they  expatiate  on  the  tranquillity  and 
pleasure  attendant  on  a  virtuous  course :  for  though  you  may  remind 
the  offender  that  in  disregarding  them  he  has  violated  his  nature,  and 
that  a  conduct  consistent  with  them  is  productive  of  much  internal 
satisfaction  ;  yet  if  he  reply  that  his  taste  is  of  a  different  sort,  tl  a» 
there  are  other  gratifications  which  he  values  more,  and  that  every 
man  must  choose  his  own  pleasures,  the  argument  is  at  an  end- 
Rewards  and  punishments,  assigned  by  infinite  power,  afford  a  pal- 
pable and  pressing  motive  which  can  never  be  neglected  without 
renouncing  the  character  of  a  rational  creature :  bat  tastes  and  relishes 
are  not  to  be  prescribed. 

A  motive  in  which  the  reason  of  man  shall  acquiesce,  enforcing  the 
practice  of  ^-irtue  at  all  limes  and  seasons,  entere  into  the  very  essence 
of  moral  obligation.  Modem  infidelity  supplies  no  such  motives :  it 
is  therefore  essentially  and  infaUibly  a  system  of  enervation,  turpitude, 
and  vice. 

This  chasm  in  the  construction  of  morals  can  only  be  supplied  by 
the  firm  belief  of  a  rewarding  and  avenging  Deity,  who  binds  duty  and 
happiness,  thougb  they  may  seem  distant,  in  an  indissoluble-  chain ; 
without  which,  whatever  usurps  the  name  of  virtue  is  not  a  principle, 
but  a  feelinsr ;  not  a  determinate  rule,  but  a  fluctuating  expedient,  vary- 
in?  with  the  tastes  of  individuals,  and  changing  with  the  scenes  of  life. 

Xor  is  this  the  onlv  way  in  which  infidelity  subverts  the  foundation 
of  morals.  AU  reasoning  on  morals  presupposes  a  distinction  be- 
tween inclinations  and  duties,  affections  and  rules.  The  former 
prompt ;  the  latter  prescribe.  The  former  supply  motives  to  action ; 
the  latter  regulate  and  control  it.  Hence  it  is  evident,  if  virtue  hare 
any  just  claim  to  authority,  it  must  be  under  the  latter  of  these  notions ; 
that  is,  Tmder  the  character  of  a  law.  It  is  under  this  notion,  in  fact, 
that  its  dominion  has  ever  been  acknowledged  to  be  paramount  and 
supreme. 

But,  without  the  intervention  of  a  superior  wiE,  it  is  impossible 
there  should  be  any  moral  laws,  except  in  the  lax  metaphorical  sense 
in  which  we  speak  of  the  laws  of  matter  and  motion.  Men  being 
essentially  equal,  morality  is,  on  these  principles,  only  a  stipulation, 
or  silent  compact,  into  which  every  individual  is  supposed  to  enter,  as 
far  as  suiis  his  conrenience,  and  for  the  breach  of  which  he  is  ac- 
countable to  nothing  but  his  own  mind.  His  own  mind  is  his  law,  his 
tribunal,  and  his  judje  ! 

Two  consequences,  the  most  disastrous  to  society,  will  ineniably 
follow  the  general  prevalence  of  this  sysiem  : — the  freqnem  perpetra- 
tion of  great  crimes,  and  the  total  absence  of  great  Tirtues. 

1.  In  those  conjunctures  which  tempt  avarice  or  inflame  ambition, 
when  a  crime  flatters  with  the  prospect  of  impunity,  and  the  certainty 
of  immense  advantage,  what  is  to  restrain  an  atheist  from  its  commis- 
sion ?     To  sav  that  remorse  will  deter  him  is  absurd :  for  mnorse. 


28  ftlObERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

as  distiUiiuisluHl  from  pity,  is  the  sole  offspring  of  rditrious  belief,  the 
extiiu-tion  of  whii-li  is  tlie  gvent  purpose  of  tlie  inl'idel  philosophy. 

Tlie  ilreail  of  piiiiisliuieiit  or  inlhiny  from  his  fellow-creatures  will 
be  ;m  equiillv  iiieireetual  barrier;  because  crimes  are  only  committed 
under  such  circumstances  as  suggest  the  hope  of  concealment :  not  to 
sav  tiiat  crimes  themselves  will  soon  lose  their  infamy  and  their  horror 
under  the  inlluence  of  that  system  which  destroys  the  sanctity  of 
virtue,  bv  converting  it  into  a  low  calculation  of  Morldly  interest. 
Here  the  sense  of  an  ever-present  Ruler,  and  of  an  avenging  Judge,  is 
of  the  most  awful  and  indispensable  necessity ;  as  it  is  that  alone 
which  impresses  on  all  crimes  the  character  of  foUi/,  shows  that  duty 
and  interest  in  every  instance  coincide,  and  that  the  most  prosperous 
career  of  vice,  the  most  brilliant  successes  of  criminality,  are  but  an 
accumulation  of  irrath  against  the  day  of  wratk. 

As  the  frequent  perpetration  of  great  crimes  is  an  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  the  diffusion  of  skeptical  principles,  so,  to  understand  this 
consequence  in  its  full  extent,  we  must  look  beyond  their  immediate 
effects,  and  consider  the  disruption  of  social  ties,  the  destruction  of 
confidence,  the  terror,  suspicion,  and  hatred  which  must  prevail  in 
that  state  of  society  in  which  barbarous  deeds  are  familiar.  The 
tranquillity  which  pervades  a  well-ordered  community,  and  the  mutual 
good  offices  which  bind  its  members  together,  are  founded  on  an  implied 
confidence  in  the  indisposition  to  annoy ;  in  the  justice,  humanity, 
and  moderation  of  those  among  whom  we  dwell.  So  that  the  Avorst 
consequence  of  crimes  is,  that  they  impair  the  stock  of  public  charity 
and  general  tenderness.  The  dread  and  hatred  of  our  species  would 
infallibly  be  grafted  on  a  conviction  that  we  were  exposed  every 
moment  to  the  surges  of  an  unbridled  ferocity,  and  that  nothing  but 
the  power  of  the  magistrate  stood  between  us  and  the  daggers  of 
assassins.  In  such  a  state,  laws,  deriving  no  support  from  public 
manners,  are  unequal  to  the  task  of  curbing  the  fury  of  the  passions  ; 
which,  from  being  concentrated  into  selfishness,  fear,  and  revenge, 
acquire  new  force.  Terror  and  suspicion  beget  cruelty,  and  inflict 
injuries  by  way  of  prevention.  Pity  is  extinguished  in  the  stronger 
impulse  of  self-preservation.  The  tender  and  generous  affections  are 
crushed ;  and  nothing  is  seen  but  the  retaliation  of  wrongs,  the  fierce 
and  unmitigated  struggle  for  superiority.  This  is  but  a  faint  sketch 
of  the  incalculable  calamities  and  horrors  we  must  expect,  should  we 
be  so  unfortunate  as  ever  to  witness  the  triumph  of  modern  infidelity. 

2.  This  system  is  a  soil  as  barren  of  great  and  sublime  virtues  as 
it  is  prolific  in  crimes.  Bv  great  and  sublime  virtues  are  meant  those 
which  are  called  into  action  on  great  and  trying  occasions,  which  de- 
mand the  sacrifice  of  the  dearest  interests  and  prospects  of  human 
life,  and  sometimes  of  life  itself :  the  virtues,  in  a  word,  which,  by 
their  rarity  and  splendour,  draw  admiration,  and  have  rendered  illus- 
trious the  character  of  patriots,  martyrs,  and  confessors.  It  requires 
but  Ihtle  reflection  to  perceive,  that  whatever  veils  a  future  world,  and 
contracts  the  limits  of  existence  within  the  present  life,  must  tend,  in  a 
proportionable  degree,  to  diminish  the  grandeur  and  narrow  the  sphere 
of  human  agency. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  29 

As  well  might  you  expect  exalted  sentiments  of  justice  from  a  pro- 
fessed gamester,  as  look  for  noble  principles  in  the  man  whose  hopes 
and  fears  are  all  suspended  on  the  present  moment,  and  who  stakes 
the  whole  happiness  of  his  being  on  the  events  of  this  vain  and  fleet- 
ing life.  If  he  be  ever  impelled  to  the  performance  of  great  achieve- 
ments in  a  good  cause,  it  must  be  solely  by  the  hope  of  fame  ;  a 
motive  which,  besides  that  it  makes  virtue  the  servant  of  opinion, 
usually  grows  weaker  at  the  approach  of  death  ;  and  which,  however 
it  may  surmount  the  love  of  existence  in  the  heat  of  battle,  or  in  the 
moment  of  public  observation,  can  seldom  be  expected  to  operate  with 
much  force  on  the  retired  duties  of  a  private  station. 

In  aftirming  that  infidelity  is  unfavourable  to  the  higher  "class  of 
virtues,  we  are  supported  as  well  by  facts  as  by  reasoning.  We 
'should^be  sorry  to  load  our  adversaries  with  unmerited  reproach  :  but 
to  what  histor}^  to  what  record  will  they  appeal  for  the  traits  of  moral 
greatness  exhibited  by  their  disciples  1  Where  shall  we  look  for  the 
trophies  of  infidel  magnanimity  or  atheistical  virtue  ?  Not  that  we 
mean  to  accuse  them  of  inactivity  :  they  have  recently  filled  the  world 
with  the  fame  of  their  exploits  ;  exploits  of  a  diflerent  kind  indeed,  but 
of  imperishable  memory,  and  disastrous  lustre. 

Though  it  is  confessed  great  and  splendid  actions  are  not  the  or- 
dinary employment  of  life,  but  must,  from  their  nature,  be  reserved 
for  high  and  eminent  occasions  ;  yet  that  system  is  essentially  defective 
which  leaves  no  room  for  their  ])roduction.  They  are  important, 
ooth  from  their  immediate  advantage  and  their  remoter  influence. 
They  often  save,  and  always  illustrate,  the  age  and  nation  in  which 
they  appear.  They  raise  the  standard  of  morals  ;  they  arrest  the 
progress  of  degeneracy ;  they  diffuse  a  lustre  over  the  path  of  life  : 
monuments  of  the  greatness  of  the  human  soul,  they  present  to  the 
iVQrld  the  august  image  of  virtue  in  her  sublimest  form,  from  which 
streams  of  light  and  glory  issue  to  -remote  times  and  ages  ;  while  their 
commemoration  by  the  pen  of  historians  and  poets  awakens  in  distant 
bosoms  the  sparks  of  kindred  excellence. 

Combine  the  frequent  and  familiar  perpetration  of  atrocious  deeds 
with  the  dearth  of  great  and  generous  actions,  and  you  have  the  exact 
picture  of  that  condition  of  society  which  completes  the  degradation 
of  the  species — the  frightful  contrast  of  dwarfish  virtues  and  gigantic 
vices,  where  every  thing  good  is  mean  and  little,  and  every  thing  evil 
is  rank  and  luxuriant :  a  dead  and  sickening  uniformity  prevails, 
broken  only  at  intervals  by  volcanic  eruptions  of  anarchy  and  crime. 

II.  Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  influence  of  skepticism  on  the 
principles  of  virtue  ;  and  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  it  despoils  it 
of  its  dignity,  and  lays  its  authority  in  the  dust.  Its  influence  on  the 
formation  of  character  remains  to  be  examined.  The  actions  of  men 
are  oftener  determined  by  their  character  than  their  interest :  their 
conduct  takes  its  colour  more  from  their  acquired  taste,  inclination?, 
and  habits,  than  from  a  deliberate  regard  to  their  greatest  good.  It  is 
only  on  great  occasions  the  mind  awakes  to  take  an  extended  survey 


30  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

of  her  whole  course,  and  that  slie  suffers  the  dictates  of  reason  to 
impress  a  niw  bias  upon  her  niovenients.  The  actions  of  each  day 
arc,  for  the  most  part,  Hnks  whicli  follow  each  other  in  the  chain  ot 
custom.  Hence  the  great  eflbrt  of  practical  wisdom  is  to  iml)ue  the 
mind  \vith  right  tastes,  alFcctions,  and  habits ;  the  elements  of  char- 
acter, and  masters  of  action. 

1.  The  exclusion  of  a  Supreme  Being  and  of  a  superintendmg 
Providence  tends  directly  to  the  destruction  of  moral  taste.  It  robs 
the  universe  of  all  finished  and  consummate  excellence  even  in  idea. 
The  admiration  of  perfect  wisdom  and  goodness  for  which  we  are 
formed,  and  which  kindles  such  unspeakable  rapture  in  the  soul,  find- 
ing in  tlie  regions  of  skepticism  nothing  to  which  it  corresponds,  droops 
and  languishes.  In  a  w6rld  which  presents  a  fair  spectacle  of  order 
and  beauty,  of  a  vast  family  nourished  and  supported  by  an  Almighty 
Parent, — in  a  world  which  leads  the  devout  mind,  step  by  step,  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  first  fair  and  the  first  good,  the  skeptic  is  encom- 
passed with  nothing  but  obscurity,  meanness,  and  disorder. 

"When  we  reflect  on  the  manner  in  which  the  idea  of  Deity  is  formed, 
we  must  be  convinced  that  such  an  idea,  intimately  present  to  the 
mind,  must  have  a  most  powerful  effect  in  refining  the  moral  taste. 
Composed  of  the  richest  elements,  it  embraces,  in  the  character  of  a 
beneficent  Parent  and  Almighty  Ruler,  whatever  is  venerable  in  wis- 
dom, whatever  is  awful  in  authority,  whatever  is  touching  in  goodness. 
Human  excellence  is  blended  with  many  imperfections,  and  seen 
under  many  limitations.  It  is  beheld  only  in  detached  and  separate 
portions,  nor  ever  appears  in  any  one  character  whole  and  entire.  So 
that  when,  in  imitation  of  the  Stoics,  we  wish  to  form  out  of  these 
fragments  the  notion  of  a  perfectly  wise  and  good  man,  we  know  it  is 
a  mere  fiction  of  the  mind,  without  any  real  being  in  Avhom  it  is  ira- 
bodied  and  realized.  In  the  belief  of  a  Deity,  these  conceptions  are 
reduced  to  reality :  the  scattered  rays  of  an  ideal  excellence  are  concen- 
trated, and  become  the  real  attributes  of  that  Being  with  whom  we  stand 
in  the  nearest  relation,  who  sits  supreme  at  the  head  of  the  universe, 
is  armed  with  infinite  power,  and  pervades  all  nature  with  his  presence. 
The  efficacy  of  these  views  in  producing  and  augmenting  a  virtuous 
taste  will  indeed  be  proportioned  to  the  vividness  with  which  they 
are  formed,  and  the  frequency  with  which  they  recur ;  yet  some  benefit 
will  not  fail  to  result  from  them  even  in  their  lowest  degree. 

The  idea  of  the  Supreme  Being  has  this  peculiar  property :  that, 
as  it  admits  of  no  substitute,  so,  from  the  first  moment  it  is  formed,  it 
is  capable  of  continual  growth  and  enlargement.  God  himself  is  im- 
mutable ;  but  our  conception  of  his  character  is  continually  receiving 
fresh  accessions,  is  continually  growing  more  extended  and  refulgent, 
by  having  transferred  to  it  new  elements  of  beauty  and  goodness  ;  by 
attracting  to  itself,  as  a  centre,  whatever  bears  the  impress  of  dignity, 
order,  or  happiness.  It  borrows  splendour  from  all  that  is  fair,  sub- 
ordmates  to  itself  all  that  is  great,  and  sits  enthroned  on  the  riches  of 
he  universe. 
As  the  object  of  worship  will  always  be,  in  a  degree,  the  object  of 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  31 

imitation,  hence  arises  a  fixed  standard  of  moral  excellence ;  by  the 
contemphuiou  of  which  the  tendencies  to  corruption  are  counteracted, 
the  contagion  of  bad  example  is  checked,  and  human  nature  rises 
above  its  natural  level. 

When  the  knowledge  of  God  was  lost  in  the  world,  just  ideas  of 
virtue  and  moral  obligation  disappeared  along  with  it.  How  is  it  to 
be  otherwise  accounted  for,  that  in  the  polished  nations,  and  in  the 
enlightened  times  of  pagan  antiquity,  the  most  unnatural  lusts  and 
detestable  impurities  were  not  only  tolerated,  in  private  life,*  but 
entered  into  religion,  and  formed  a  material  part  of  public  worship  ;t 
while  among  the  Jews,  a  people  so  much  inferior  in  every  other  branch 
of  knowledge,  the  same  vices  were  regarded  with  horror? 

The  reason  is  this :  the  true  character  of  God  was  unknown  to  the 
former,  which  by  the  liglit  of  Divine  revelation  was  displayed  to  the 
latter.  The  former  cast  their  deities  in  the  mould  of  their  own  im- 
aginations ;  in  consequence  of  which  they  partook  of  the  vices  and 
defects  of  their  worshippers.  To  the  latter,  no  scope  was  left  for  the 
wanderings  of  fancy ;  but  a  pure  and  perfect  model  was  prescribed. 

False  and  corrupt,  however,  as  was  the  religion  of  the  pagans  (if 
it  deserve  the  name),  and  defective,  and  often  vicious,  as  was  the 
character  of  their  imaginary  deities,  it  was  still  better  for  the  world 
that  the  void  shv^uld  be  filled  with  these  than  abandoned  to  a  total 
skepticism ;  for  if  both  systems  are  equally  false,  they  are  not  equally 
pernicious.  When  the  fictions  of  heathenism  consecrated  the  memory 
of  its  legislators  and  heroes,  it  invested  them  for  the  most  part  with 
those  qualities  which  were  in  the  greatest  repute.  They  were  sup- 
posed to  possess  in  the  highest  degree  the  virtues  in  which  it  was 
most  honourable  to  excel ;  and  to  be  the  witnesses,  approvers,  and 
patrons  of  those  perfections  in  others  by  which  their  own  character 
was  chiefly  distinguished.  Men  saw,  or  rather  fancied  they  saw,  in 
these  supposed  deities  the  qualities  they  most  admired,  dilated  to  a 
larger  size,  moving  in  a  higher  sphere,  and  associated  with  the  power, 
dignity,  and  happiness  of  superior  natures.  With  such  ideal  models 
before  them,  and  conceiving  themselves  continually  acting  under  the 
eye  of  such  spectators  and  judges,  they  felt  a  real  elevation ;  their 
eloquence  became  more  impassioned,  their  patriotism  inflamed,  and 
their  courage  exalted. 

Revelation,  by  displaying  the  true  character  of  God,  affords  a  pure 
and  perfect  standard  of  virtue  ;  heathenism,  one  in  many  respects 
defective  and  vicious  ;  the  fashionable  skepticism  of  the  present  day, 

*  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  tliat  the  elegant  and  philosophic  Xenophon,  in  delineating  tlie  model 
of  a  perfect  prince  in  the  character  of  Cyrus,  introduces  a  IVIede  wlio  had  formed  an  unnatural  pas- 
sion for  his  hero;  and  relates  the  incident  in  a  lively,  festive  hufnour,  without  being  in  the  least 
conscious  of  any  indelicacy  attached  to  it.  What  must  be  the  state  of  manners  in  a  country  where 
a  circumstance  of  this  kind,  feigned,  no  doubt,  by  way  of  ornament,  finds  a  place  in  such  a  work? 
— Cyri  Instit.  lib.  i. 

"Deinde  nob\s,  (\m,  concedenlilnis  pliilosnpkis  antiquis,  adolescentulis  delectamur,  etiam  vitia 
ssepe  jucunda  sunt." — Cicero  De  Nat.  Dei,  lib.  i. 

t  " Nam  qxt.n  non  frost  at  fcemina  templo?" — Juv. 

The  impurities  practised  in  the  worship  of  Isis,  an  Egyptian  deity,  rose  to  such  a  height  in  the  r<»ign 
of  Tiberius,  that  that  profligate  prince  thought  fit  to  prohibit  her  worship,  and  at  the  same  time 
'^iflicted  on  her  priests  the  punishment  of  crucifixion. — Joseph.  Antiq.  Judaic,  lib.  xviii. 


32  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

wliioli  excludes  tlie  belief  of  all  superior  powers,  affords  no  standard 
at  all.  lluinan  nature  knows  notliiuif  better  or  higher  tiian  itself. 
All  above  anil  around  it  being  shrouded  in  darkness,  and  the  prospect 
conlined  to  the  tame  realities  of  life,  virtue  has  no  room  upwards  to 
expand  ;  nor  are  any  excursions  jiennitted  into  that  unseen  world,  tlie 
true  element  of  the  great  and  good,  by  wiiich  it  is  fortified  with  mo- 
tives equally  calculated  to  satisfy  the  reason,  to  delight  the  fancy,  and 
to  impress  the  heart. 

2.  Modern  iniidelitv  not  only  tends  to  corrupt  the  moral  taste,  it 
also  promotes  the  growth  of  those  vices  which  are  the  most  hostde 
to  social  happiness.  Of  all  the  vices  incident  to  human  nature,  the 
most  destructive  to  society  are  vanity,  ferocity,  and  unbridled  sen- 
suality ;  and  these  are  precisely  the  vices  which  infidelity  is  calculated 
to  cherish. 

That  the  love,  fear,  and  habitual  contemplation  of  a  Being  infinitely 
exalted,  or,  in  other  words,  devotion,  is  adapted  to  promote  a  sober 
and  moderate  estimate  of  our  own  excellences,  is  incontestable  ;  nor 
is  it  less  evident  that  the  exclusion  of  such  sentiments  must  be  favour- 
able to  pride.  The  criminality  of  pride  will,  perhaps,  be  less  readily 
admitted  ;  for  though  there  is  no  vice  so  opposite  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  yet  there  is  none  which,  even  in  tlie  Christian  world,  has, 
under  various  pretences,  been  treated  w-ith  so  much  indulgence. 

There  is,  it  will  be  confessed,  a  delicate  sensibility  to  character,  a 
sober  desire  of  reputation,  a  wish  to  possess  the  esteem  of  the  w'ise 
and  good,  felt  by  the  purest  minds,  which  is  at  the  farthest  remove 
from  arrogance  or  vanity.  The  humility  of  a  noble  mind  scarcely 
dares  to  approve  of  itself,  until  it  has  secured  the  approbation  of 
others.  Very  different  is  that  restless  desire  of  distinction,  that  pas- 
sion for  theatrical  display,  which  inflames  the  heart  and  occupies  the 
whole  attention  of  vain  men.  This,  of  all  the  passions,  is  the  most 
unsocial,  avarice  itself  not  excepted.  The  reason  is  plain.  Property 
is  a  kind  of  good  which  may  be  more  easily  attained,  and  is  capable 
of  more  minute  subdivisions  than  fame.  In  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  men 
are  led  by  a;i  attention  to  their  own  interest  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
each  other ;  their  advantages  are  reciprocal ;  the  benefits  which  each 
is  anxious  to  acquire  for  himself  he  reaps  in  the  greatest  abundance 
from  the  union  and  conjunction  of  society.  The  pursuits  of  vanity 
are  quite  contrary.  The  portion  of  time  and  attention  mankind  are 
wUling  to  spare  from  their  avocations  and  pleasures  to  devote  to  the 
admiration  of  each  other  is  so  small,  that  every  successful  adventurer 
is  felt  to  have  impaired  the  common  stock.  The  success  of  one  is  the 
disappointment  of  multitudes.  For  though  there  be  many  rich,  many 
virtuous,  many  wise  men,  fame  must  necessarily  be  the  portion  of  but 
feAV.  Hence  every  vain  man,  every  man  in  whom  vanity  is  the  ruling 
passion,  regarding  his  rival  as  his  enemy,  is  strongly  tempted  to  rejoice 
in  his  miscarriage,  and  repine  at  his  success. 

Besides,  as  the  passions  are  seldom  seen  in  a  simple,  unmixed 
state,  so  vanity,  when  it  succeeds,  degenerates  into  arrogance ;  when 
it  is  disappointed  (and  it  is  often  disappouited),  it  is  exasperated  into. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED,  33 

nalignity,  and  corrupted  inio  envy.  In  this  stage  the  vain  man  com- 
mences a  determined  misanthropist.  He  detests  that  excellence 
which  he  cannot  reach.  He  detests  his  species,  and  longs  to  be 
revenged  for  the  unpardonable  injustice  he  has  sustained  in  their  in- 
sensibility to  his  merits.  He  lives  upon  the  calamities  of  the  world ; 
the  vices  and  miseries  of  men  are  his  element  and  his  food.  Virtues, 
talents,  and  genius  are  his  natural  enemies,  which  he  persecutes  with 
instinctive  eagerness  and  unrelenting  hostility.  There  are  who  doub' 
the  existence  of  such  a  disposition ;  but  it  certainly  issues  out  of  the 
dregs  of  disappointed  vanity :  a  disease  which  taints  and  vitiates  the 
whole  cliaracter  wherever  it  prevails.  It  forms  the  heart  to  such  a 
profound  indifference  to  the  \#blfare  of  others,  that,  whatever  appear- 
ances he  may  assume,  or  however  wide  the  circle  of  his  seeming 
virtues  may  extend,  you  will  infallibly  find  the  vain  man  is  liis  own 
centre.  Attentive  only  to  himself,  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of 
his  own  perfections,  instead  of  feeling  tenderness  for  his  fellow-crea- 
tures as  members  of  the  same  family,  as  beings  with  whom  he  is 
appointed  to  act,  to  suffer,  and  to  sympathize, — he  considers  life  as  a 
stage  on  which  he  is  performing  a  part,  and  mankind  in  no  other  light 
than  spectators.  Whether  he  smiles  or  frowns,  whether  his  path  is 
adorned  with  the  rays  of  beneficence,  or  his  steps  are  died  in  blood, 
an  attention  to  self  is  the  spring  of  every  movement,  and  the  motive 
to  which  every  action  is  referred. 

His  apparent  good  qualities  lose  all  their  worth,  by  losing  all  that  is 
simple,  genuine,  and  natural :  they  are  even  pressed  into  the  service 
of  vanity,  and  become  the  means  of  enlarging  its  power.  The  truly 
good  man  is  jealous  over  himself  lest  the  notoriety  of  his  best  actions, 
by  blending  itself  with  their  motive,  should  diminish  their  value ; 
the  vain  man  performs  the  same  actions  for  the  sake  of  that  notoriety. 
The  good  man  quietly  discharges  his  duty,  and  shuns  ostentation ;  the 
vain  man  considers  every  good  deediost  that  is  not  publicly  displayed. 
The  one  is  intent  upon  realities,  the  other  upon  semblances  :  the  one 
aims  to  he  virtuous,  the  other  to  appear  so. 

Nor  is  a  mind  inflated  with  vanity  more  disqualified  for  right 
action  than  just  speculation,  or  better  disposed  to  the  pursuit  of  truth 
than  the  practice  of  virtue.  To  such  a  mind  the  simplicity  of  truth  is 
disgusting.  Careless  of  the  improvement  of  mankind,  and  intent  only 
upon  astonishing  with  the  appearance  of  novelty,  the  glare  of  paradox 
will  be  preferred  to  the  light  of  truth  ;  opinions  will  be  embraced,  not 
because  they  are  just,  but  because  they  are  new :  the  more  flagitious, 
the  more  subversive  of  morals,  the  more  alarming  to  the  wise  and 
good,  the  more  welcome  to  men  who  estimate  their  literary  powers 
by  the  mischief  they  produce,  and  who  consider  the  anxiety  and  terror 
they  impress  as  the  measure  of  their  renown.  Truth  is  simple  and 
uniform,  while  error  may  be  infinitely  varied :  and  as  it  is  one  thing 
to  start  paradoxes,  and  another  to  make  discoveries,  we  need  the  less 
wonder  at  the  prodigious  increase  of  modern  philosophers. 

We  havt  been  so  much  accustomed  to  consider  extravagant  self- 
estimation  merely  as  a  ridiculous  quality,  that  many  will  be  surprised 

V^OL.    1.— C 


34  MODERN  INFIDEMIV  CONSIDERED. 

to  lind  it  trout  oil  as  a  vice  procnant  with  serious  mischief  to  socictj' 
lint,  to  form  a  judgment  of  its  inlhience  on  the  manners  and  liappiness 
of  a  nation,  it  is  necessary  only  to  look  at  its  elfects  in  a  family  ;  for 
bodies  of  men  are  only  collections  of  individuals,  and  |he  greatest 
nation  is  nothing  more  than  an  aggregate  of  a  number  of  families. 
Conceive  of  a  domestic  circle,  in  which  each  member  is  elated  with  a 
most  extravagant  opinion  of  himself,  and  a  proportionable  contempt  of 
everv  other  ;  is  full  of  little  contrivances  to  catch  applause,  and  when- 
ever he  is  not  praised  is  sullen  and  disappointed.  What  a  picture  of 
disunion,  disgust,  and  animosity  would  such  a  famdy  present !  How 
utterly  would  domestic  alTection  be  extinguished,  and  all  the  purposes 
of  domestic  society  be  defeated !  'i%e  general  prevalence  of  such 
dispositions  must  be  accompanied  by  an  equal  proportion  of  general 
misery.  The  tendency  of  pride  to  produce  strife  and  hatred  is  suffi- 
ciently apparent  from  ttie  pains  men  have  been  at  to  construct  a  sys- 
tem of  politeness,  which  is  nothing  more  than  a  sort  of  mimic  humility, 
in  which  the  sentiments  of  an  offensive  self-estimation  are  so  far 
disguised  and  suppressed  as  to  make  them  compatible  with  the  spirit 
of  society ;  such  a  mode  of  behaviour  as  would  naturally  result  from 
an  attention  to  the  apostolic  injunction  :  Let  nothing  be  done  through 
strife  or  vainglory ;  but,  in  lowliness  of  mind,  let  each  esteem  other 
better  than  themselves.  But  if  the  semblance  be  of  such  importance, 
how  much  more  useful  the  reality  !  If  the  mere  garb  of  humility  be 
of  such  indispensable  necessity  that  without  it  society  could  not  subsist, 
how  much  better  still  would  the  harmony  of  the  world  be  preserved, 
were  the  condescension,  deference,  and  respect  so  studiously  displayed 
a  true  picture  of  the  heart ! 

The  same  restless  and  eager  vanity  w*hich  disturbs  a  family,  when 
It  is  permitted  in  a  great  national  crisis  to  mingle  with  political  affairs, 
distracts  a  kmgdom ;  infusing  into  those  intrusted  with  the  enaction 
of  laws  a  spirit  of  rash  innovation  and  daring  empiricism,  a  disdain 
of  the  established  usages  of  mankind,  a  foolish  desire  to  dazzle  the 
world  with  new  and  untried  systems  of  policy,  in  which  the  precedents 
of  antiquity  and  the  experience  of  ages  are  only  consulted  to  be  trod- 
den under  foot ;  and  into  the  executive  department  of  government,  a 
fierce  contention  for  pre-eminence,  an  incessant  struggle  to  supplant 
and  destroy,  with  a  propensity  to  calumny  and  suspicion,  proscription 
and  massacre. 

"We  shall  suffer  the  most  ev  entful  season  ever  w'itnessed  in  the  affairs 
of  men  to  pass  over  our  heads  \.o  very  little  purpose,  if  we  fail  to  learn 
from  it  some  awful  lessons  on  the  nature  and  progress  of  the  passions. 
The  true  light  in  which  the  French  revolution  ought  to  be  contem- 
plated is  that  of  a  grand  experiment  on  human  nature.  Among  the 
various  passions  which  that  revolution  has  so  strikingly  displayed, 
none  is  more  conspicuous  than  vanity  ;  nor  is  it  less  difficult,  without 
adverting  to  the  national  character  of  the  people,  to  account  for  its 
extraordinary  predominance.  Political  power,  the  most  seducing  ob- 
ject of  ambition,  never  before  circulated  through  so  many  hands  ;  the 
prospect  of  possessing  it  was  never  before   presenveid  to  so  manj' 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  35 

minds.  Multitudes,  who,  by  their  birth  and  education,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  by  their  talents,  seemed  destined  to  perpetual  obscurity,  were 
by  the  alternate  rise  and  fall  of  parties  elevated  into  distinction,  and 
shared  in  the  functions  of  government.  The  short-lived  forms  of 
power  and  office  glided  with  such  rapidity  through  successive  ranks 
of  degradation,  from  the  court  to  the  very  dregs  of  the  populace,  that 
they  seemed  rather  to  solicit  acceptance  than  to  be  a  prize  contended 
for.*  Yet,  as  it  was  still  impossible  for  all  to  possess  authority,  though 
none  were  willing  to  obey,  u  general  impatience  to  break  the  ranks 
and  rush  into  the  foremost  ground  maddened  and  infuriated  the  nation, 
and  overwhelmed  law,  order,  and  civilization,  with  the  violence  of  a 
torrent. 

If  such  be  the  mischiefs  both  in  public  and  private  life  resulting 
from  an  excessive  self-estimation,  it  remains  next  to  be  considered 
whether  Providence  has  supplied  any  medicine  to  correct  it ;  for  as 
the  reflection  on  excellences,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  is  always 
attended  with  pleasure  to  the  possessor,  it  is  a  disease  deeply  seated 
m  our  nature. 

Suppose  there  were  a  great  and  glorious  Being  always  present  with 
us,  who  had  given  us  existence,  with  numberless  other  blessings,  and 
on  whom  we  depended  each  instant,  as  well  for  every  present  enjoy- 
ment as  for  every  future  good  ;  suppose,  again,  we  had  incurred  the 
just  displeasure  of  such  a  Being  by  ingratitude  and  disobedience,  yet 
that  in  great  mercy  he  had  not  cast  us  off,  but  had  assured  us  he  was 
willing  to  pardon  and  restore  us  on  our  humble  entreaty  and  sincere 
repentance  ;  say,  would  not  an  habitual  sense  of  the  presence  of  this 
being,  self-reproach  for  having  displeased  him,  and  an  anxiety  to  re- 
cover his  favour,  be  the  most  effectual  antidote  to  pride  ?  But  such 
are  the  leading  discoveries  made  by  the  Christian  revelation,  and  such 
the.  dispositions  which  a  practical  belief  of  it  inspires. 

Humility  is  the  first  fruit  of  religron.  In  the  mouth  of  our  Lord 
there  is  no  maxim  so  frequent  as  the  following:  Wliosoever  cxaltcth 
himself  shall  be  abased,  and  he  that  hatnbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted. 
Religion,  and  that  alone,  teaches  absolute  humility  ;  by  which  I  mean 
a  sense  of  our  absolute  nothingness  in  the  view  of  infinite  greatness 
and  excellence.  That  sense  of  inferiority  which  results  from  the 
comparison  of  men  with  each  other  is  often  an  unwelcome  sentiment 
forced  upon  the  mind,  which  may  rather  imbitter  the  temper  than 
soften  it :  that  which  devotion  impresses  is  soothing  and  delightful 
The  devout  man  loves  to  lie  low  at  the  footstool  of  his  Ci'eator, 
because  it  is  then  he  attains  the  most  lively  perceptions  of  the  divine 
excellence,  and  the  most  tranquil  confidence  in  the  divine  favour.  In 
so  august  a  presence  he  sees  all  distinctions  lost,  ajid  all  beings  re- 
duced to  the  same  level.  He  looks  at  his  superiors  without  envy,  and 
his  mferiors  without  contempt :  and  when  from  this  elevation  iie 
dissp^nds  vo  mix  in  society,  the  conviction  of  superiority  which  n  'ust 


"  .^quo  pulsat  pede  pauperam  tabernas 

Regumqu^  turres." — Hor. 

C2 


36  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

ill  many  insinncos  be  felt  is  a  calm  inforence  of  tlie  understanding, 
and  no  longer  a  busy,  importunate  passion  of  the  heart. 

The  wicked  (savs  the  Psalmist)  tlirovgh  the  pride  of  their  counte- 
nance, u-ill  not  seek  after  God :  God  is  not  in  all  their  thoughts.  When 
we  consider  the  incredible  vanity  of  the  atheistical  sect,  together  with 
the  settled  malignity  and  unrelenting  rancour  with  which  they  pursue 
every  vestige  of  religion,  is  it  uncandid  to  suppose  that  its  humbling 
tendency  is  one  principal  cause  of  their  enmity ;  that  they  are  eager 
to  displace  a  Deitv  from  the  minds  of  men,  that  they  may  occupy  the 
void  ;  to  crumble  tlie  throne  of  the  Eternal  into  dust,  that  they  may 
elevate  themselves  on  its  ruins ;  and  that,  as  their  licentiousness  is 
impatient  of  restraint,  so  their  pride  disdains  a  superior  ? 

We  mentioned  a  ferocity  of  character  as  one  effect  of  skeptical 
impiety.  It  is  an  inconvenience  attending  a  controversy  with  those 
with  whom  we  have  few  principles  in  common,  that  we  are  often  in 
danger  of  reasoning  inconclusively,  for  the  want  of  its  being  clearly 
known  and  settled  what  our  opponents  admit,  and  what  they  deny. 
The  persons,  for  example,  w'ith  whom  we  are  at  present  engaged 
have  discarded  humility  and  modesty  from  the  catdogue  of  virtues ; 
on  which  account  we  have  employed  the  more  time  in  evincing  their 
importance  :  but  w^hatevcr  may  be  thought  of  humility  as  a  virtue,  it 
surely  will  not  be  denied  that  inhumanity  is  a  most  detestable  vice ;  a 
vice,  however,  which  skepticism  has  a  most  powerful  tendency  to 
inflame. 

As  we  have  already  shown  that  pride  hardens  the  heart,  and  that 
religion  is  the  only  effectual  antidote,  the  connexion  between  irreli- 
gion  and  inhumanity  is  in  this  view  obvious.  But  there  is  another 
light  in  which  this  part  of  the  subject  may  be* viewed,  in  my  humble 
opinion,  much  more  important,  though  seldom  adverted  to-  The  sup- 
position that  man  is  a  moral  and  accountable  being,  destined  to  survive 
the  stroke  of  death,  and  to  live  in  a  future  world  in  a  never-ending 
state  of  happiness  or  misery,  makes  him  a  creature  of  incomparably 
more  consequence  than  the  opposite  supposition.  When  we  consider 
him  as  placed  here  by  an  Almighty  Ruler  in  a  state  of  probation,  and 
that  the  present  life  is  his  period  of  trial,  the  first  link  in  a  vast  and 
interminable  chain  which  stretches  into  eternity,  he  assumes  a  digni- 
fied character  in  our  eyes.  Every  thing  which  relates  to  him  becomes 
interesting ;  and  to  trifle  wdth  his  happiness  is  felt  to  be  the  most 
unpardonable  levity.  If  such  be  the  destination  of  man,  it  is  evident 
that  in  the  qualities  which  fit  him  for  it  his  principal  dignity  consists : 
his  moral  greatness  is  his  true  greatness.  Let  the  skeptical  principles 
be  admitted,  which  represent  him,  on  the  contrary,  as  the  offspring  of 
chance,  connected  with  no  superior  power,  and  sinking  into  annihila- 
tion at  death,  and  he  is  a  contemptible  creature,  whose  existence  and 
hap-jiness  are  insignificant.  The  characteristic  difference  is  lost 
bei  .veen  him  and  the  brute  creation,  from  which  he  is  no  longer  dis- 
tinguished, except  by  the  vividness  and  multiplicity  of  his  perceptions. 

If  we  reflect  on  that  part  of  our  nature  which  disposes  us  to  hu 
manity,  we  shall  find,  that  where  we  have  no  particular  attachment 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  37 

jur  sympathy  with  the  sufferings  and  concern  for  the  destruction  of 
sensitive  beings  are  in  proportion  to  their  supposed  importance  in  the 
general  scale  ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  tlieir  supposed  capacity  of  enjoy- 
ment. We  feel,  for  example,  much  more  at  witnessing  the  destruction 
of  a  man  than  of  an  inferior  animal,  because  we  consider  it  as  involv- 
ing the  extinction  of  a  much  greater  sum  of  happiness.  For  the  same 
reason  he  who  would  shudder  at  the  slaughter  of  a  large  animal  will 
see  a  thousand  insects  perish  without  a  pang.  Our  sympathy  with 
the  calamities  of  our  fellow-creatures  is  adjusted  to  the  same  propor- 
tions ;  for  we  feel  more  powerfully  affected  with  the  distresses  of 
fallen  greatness  than  with  equal  or  greater  distresses  sustained  by 
persons  of  inferior  rank ;  because,  having  been  accustomed  to  asso- 
ciate with  an  elevated  station  the  idea  of  superior  happiness,  the  loss 
appears  the  greater,  and  the  wreck  more  extensive.  But  the  dispro- 
portion in  importance  between  man  and  the  meanest  insect  is  not  so 
great  as  that  which  subsists  between  man  considered  as  mortal  and  as 
immortal;  that  is,  between  man  as  he  is  represented  by  the  system  of 
skepticism,  and  that  of  divine  revelation :  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
meanest  insect  bears  some  proportion,  though  a  very  small  one,  to  the 
present  happiness  of  man ;  but  tlie  happiness  of  time  bears  none  at 
all  to  that  of  eternity.  The  skeptical  system,  therefore,  sinks  the 
importance  of  human  existence  to  an  inconceivable  degree. 

From  these  principles  results  the  following  important  inference — 
that  to  extinguish  human  life  by  the  hand  of  violence  must  be  quite  a 
different  thing  in  the  eyes  of  a  skeptic  from  what  it  is  in  those  of  a 
Christian.  With  the  skeptic  it  is  nothing  more  than  diverting  the 
course  of  a  little  red  fluid,  called  blood;  it  is  merely  lessening  the 
number  by  one  of  many  millions  of  fugitive  contemptilie  creatures. 
The  Christian  sees  in  the  same  event  an  accountable  being  cut  off 
from  a  state  of  probation,  and  hurried,  perhaps  unprepared,  into  the 
presence  of  his  Judge,  to  hear  that-  final,  that  irrevocable  sentence, 
which  is  to  fix  him  for  ever  in  a«  unalterable  condition  of  felicity  or 
wo.  The  former  perceives  in  death  nothing  but  its  physical  circum- 
stances ;  the  latter  is  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  its  moral  con- 
sequences. It  is  the  moral  relation  which  man  is  supposed  to  bear 
to  a  superior  power,  the  awful  idea  of  accountability,  the  influence 
which  his  present  dispositions  and  actions  are  conceived  to  have  upon 
his  eternal  destiny,  more  than  any  superiority  of  intellectual  powers 
abstracted  from  these  considerations,  which  invest  him  with  such  mys- 
terious grandeur,  and  constitute  the  firmest  guard  on  the  sanctuary  of 
human  life.  This  reasoning,  it  is  true,  serves  more  immediately  to 
show  how  the  disbelief  of  a  future  state  endangers  the  security  of  life  ; 
but  though  this  be  its  direct  consequence,  it  extends  by  analogy  much 
further,  since  he  who  has  learned  to  sport  with  the  lives  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  will  feel  but  little  solicitude  for  their  welfare  in  any  other 
instance  ;  but,  as  the  greater  includes  the  less,  will  easily  pass  from 
this  to  all  the  inferior  gradations  of  barbarity. 

As  the  advantage  of  the  armed  over  the  unarmed  is  not  seen  till  the 
njoment  of"  attack,  so  in  that  tranquil  state  of  society  in  which  law  and 


tc:,?  ':M  :  y^  a  jj 


as  MODERN  INFIDEF-ITY  CONSIbEREU. 

orilor  inaiiitiiin  llu-ir  ascoiuloncy,  it  is  not  perceived,  perhaps  not  even 
snspecttHl,  to  what  an  ahirniiui;  degree  the  princ.i])les  of  modern  infi- 
delity leave  us  naked  and  ilefeneeU^ss.  Ikit  let  tlie  stale  bo  convulsed 
let  the  mounds  of  regular  authority  be  once  overflowed,  and  the  still 
small  voice  of  law  drowned  in  the  tempest  of  popular  fury  (events 
which  recent  experience  shows  to  be  possible),  it  will  then  be  seen, 
that  atheism  is  a  school  of  ferocity ;  and  that,  having  taught  its  disci- 
ples to  consider  mankind  as  little  better  than  a  nest  of  insects,  they 
will  be  prepared  in  the  tierce  conflicts  of  party  to  trample  upon  them 
without  pity,  and  extinguish  them  without  remorse. 

It  was  late*  before  the  atheism  of  Epicurus  gained  footing  at  Rome  ; 
but  its  prevalence  was  soon  followed  by  such  scenes  of  proscription, 
confiscation,  and  blood,  as  were  then  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
the  world  ;  from  which  the  republic  being  never  able  to  recover  itself, 
after  many  unsuccessful  struggles,  exchanged  liberty  for  repose,  by 
submission  to  absolute  power.  Such  were  the  effects  of  atheism  at 
Rome.  An  attempt  has  been  recently  made  to  establish  a  similar 
system  in  France,  the  consequences  of  which  are  too  well  known  to 
render  it  requisite  for  me  to  shock  your  feelings  by  a  recital.  The 
only  doubt  that  can  arise  is,  whether  the  liarbarities  which  have  stained 
the  revolution  in  that  unhappy  country  are  Justly  chargeable  on  the 
prevalence  of  atheism.  Let  those  who  doubt  of  this  recollect  tlrat  the 
men  who,  by  their  activity  and  talents,  prepared  the  minds  of  the 
people  for  that  great  change — Voltaire,  D'AUmhert,  Diderot,  Rous- 
seau, and  others — were  avowed  enemies  of  revelation  ;  that  in  all  their 
w'ritings  the  diffusion  of  skepticism  and  revolutionary  principles  went 
hand  in  hand ;  that  the  fury  of  the  most  sanguinary  parties  was  espe- 
cially pointed  against  the  Christian  priesthood  and  religions  institu- 
tions, without  once  pretending,  like  other  persecutors,  to  execute  the 
vengeance  of  God  (whose  name  they  never  mentioned)  upon  his  ene- 
mies ;  that  their  atrocities  were  committed  with  a  Vvanton  levity  and 
brutal  merriment;  that  the  reign  of  atheism  was  avowedly  and  ex- 
pressly- the  reign  of  terror  ;  that  in  the  full  madness  of  their  career,  in 
the  highest  climax  of  their  horrors,  they  shut  up  the  temples  of  God; 
abolished  his  w'orship,  and  proclaimed  death  to  be  an  eternal  sleep ; 
as  if  by  pointing  to  the  silence  of  the  sepulchre,  and  the  sleep  of  the 
dead,  these  ferocious  barbarians  meant  to  apologize  for  leaving  neither 
•sleep,  quiet,  nor  repose  to  the  living. 

As  the  heathens  fabled  that  Minerva  issued  full  armed  from  the 
head  of  Jupiter,  so  no  sooner  were  the  speculations  of  atheistical  phi- 
losophy matured,  than  they  gave  birth  to  a  ferocity  which  converted 
the  most  polished  people  in  Europe  into  a  horde  of  assassins ;  the 
seat  of  voluptuous  refinement,  of  pleasure,  and  of  arts,  into  a  theatre 
of  blood. 

Having  already  shown  that  the  principles  of  infidelity  facilitate  the 
commission  of  crimes,  by  removing  the  restraints  of  fear ;  and  that 
they  foster  the  arrogance  of  the  individual,  while  they  inculcate  the 

^  "  Neque  enim  assentior  iis  qui  htsc  nuper  disserere  cceperunt,  cum  corporibus  simul  anirru. 
interire  atque  omnia  morie  deleri." — Cicero  de  Amicitia. 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  39 

most  despicable  opinion  of  the  species  ;  tlie  inevitable  result  is,  that 
a  haughty  self-confidence,  a  contempt  of  mankind,  together  with  a 
daring  defiance  of  religious  restraints,  arc  the  natural  ingredients  of 
the  atheistical  character ;  nor  is  it  less  evident  that  these  are,  of  all 
others,  the  dispositions  whicli  most  forcibly  stimulate  to  violence  and 
,ruelty. 

Settle  it  therefore  in  your  minds,  as  a  maxim  never  to  be  effaced  or 
forgotten,  that  atheism  is  an  inhuman,  bloody,  ferocious  system,  equally 
hostile  to  every  useful  restraint  and  to  every  virtuous  affection ;  that, 
leaving  nothing  above  us  to  excite  awe,  nor  round  us  to  awaken  ten- 
derness, it  wages  war  with  heaven  and  with  earth  :  its  first  object  is 
to  dethrone  God,  its  next  to  destroy  man.* 

There  is  a  third  vice,  not  less  destructive  to  society  than  either  of 
those  which  have  been  already  mentioned,  to  which  the  system  of 
modern  infidelity  is  favourable  ;  that  is,  unbridled  sensuality,  the  licen- 
tious and  unrestrained  indulgence  of  those  passions  which  are  essen- 
tial to  the  continuation  of  the  species.  The  magnitude  of  these  pas- 
sions, and  their  supreme  importance  to  the  existence  as  well  as  the 
peace  and  welfare  of  society,  have  rendered  it  one  of  the  first  objects 
of  solicitude  with  every  Avise  legislator  to  restrain  them  by  such  laws, 
and  to  confine  their  indulgence  within  such  limits,  as  shall  best  pro- 
mote the  great  ends  for  which  they  were  implanted. 

The  benevolence  and  wisdom  of  the  Author  of  Cliristianity  are 
eminently  conspicuous  in  the  laws  he  has  enacted  on  this  branch  of 
morals  ;  for,  while  he  authorizes  marriage,  he  restrains  the  vagrancy 
and  caprice  of  the  passions,  by  forbidding  polygamy  and  divorce  ;  and, 
well  knowing  that  offences  against  the  laws  of  chastity  usually  spring 
from  an  ill-regulated  imagmation,  he  inculcates  purity  of  heart. 
Among  innumerable  benefits  which  the  world  has  derived  from  the 
Christian  religion,  a  superior  refinement  in  the  sexual  sentiments,  a 
more  equal  and  respectful  treatment  of  women,  greater  dignity  and 
permanence  conferred  on  the  institution  of  marriage,  are  not  the  least 
considerable ;  m  consequence  of  which  the  purest  affections  and  the 
most  sacred  duties  are  grafted  on  the  stock  of  the  strongest  mstincts. 

The  aim  of  all  the  leading  champions  of  infidelity  is  to  rob  mankind 
of  these  benefits,  and  throw  them  back  into  a  state  of  gross  and  brutal 
sensuality.  In  this  spirit^  Mr.  Hume  represents  the  private  conduct  of 
the  profligate  Charles,  whose  debaucheries  polluted  the  age,  as  a 
just  subject  of  panegyric.  A  disciple  in  the  same  school  has  lately 
had  the  unblushing  effrontery  to  stigmatize  marriage  as  the  worst  of  all 
monopolies  ;  and,  in  a  narrative  of  his  licentious  amours,  to  make  a 
formal  apology  for  departing  from  his  principles,  by  submitting  to  its 
restraints.  The  popular  productions  on  the  Continent  which  issue  from 
the  atheistical  school  are  incessantly  directed  to  the  same  purpose. 

Under  every  possible  aspect  in  which  infidelity  can  be  viewed,  i 

*  As  human  nature  is  the  same  in  all  ages,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the  same  moral  systems, 
even  in  the  most  dissimilar  circumstances,  produce  corrcBponding  effects.  Josephus  remarks  that 
the  Sadducees,  a  kind  of  Jewish  infidels,  whose  tenets  were  the  denial  of  amoral  government  md  s 
future  state,  were  distinguiKhed  from  llie  other  sects  by  their  ferocity. — De  Bill.  Jud.  lib.  ii.  He 
elsewhere  remarks,  that  they  were  eminent  for  their  inhumanity  in  their  judicial  capacity 


40  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

cxtor.ds  the  ilominion  of  sensuality  :  it  repeals  and  abrogates  every 
law  by  whirh  divine  revelation  has,  muler  sueh  awful  sanctions,  re- 
strained the  indulgenee  of  the  passions.  The  disbelief  of  a  supreme, 
onuiiseient  Heini>-,  whieh  it  inculcates,  releases  its  disciples  from  an 
attention  to  the  heart,  from  every  care  but  the  preservation  of  outward 
decorum  ;  and  the  exclusion  of  the  devout  ailections  and  an  unseen 
world  leaves  the  mind  immersed  in  visible,  sensible  objects. 

There  are  two  sorts  of  pleasures, — corporeal  and  mental.  Though 
we  are  indebted  to  the  senses  for  all  our  perceptions  originally,  yet 
those  which  are  at  the  farthest  remove  from  their  immediate  impreS' 
sions  confer  the  most  elevation  on  the  character,  since  in  proportion  as 
thev  are  multiplied  and  augmented,  the  slavish  subjection  to  the  senses 
is  subdued.  Hence  the  true  and  only  antidote  to  debasing  sensuality 
is  the  possession  of  a  fund  of  that  kind  of  enjoyment  which  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  corporeal  appetites.  Inferior  in  the  perfection  of 
several  of  his  senses  to  different  parts  of  the  brute  creation,  the  supe- 
riority of  man  over  them  all  consists  in  his  superior  power  of  multiply- 
ing by  new  combinations  his  mental  perceptions,  and  thereby  of 
creating  to  himself  resources  of  happiness  separate  from  external 
sensation.  In  the  scale  of  enjoyment,  at  the  first  remove  from  sense 
are  the  pleasures  of  reason  and  society ;  at  the  next  are  the  pleasures 
of  devotion  and  religion.  The  former,  though  totally  distinct  from 
those  of  sense,  are  yet  less  perfectly  adapted  to  moderate  their  ex- 
cesses than  the  last,  as  they  are  in  a  great  measure  conversant  with 
visible  and  sensible  objects. — The  religious  affections  and  sentiments 
are,  in  fact,  and  were  intended  to  be,  \he  proper  antagonist  of  sensuality, 
— the  great  deliverer  from  the  thraldom  of  the  appetites,  by  opening 
a  spiritual  world,  and  inspiring  hopes  and  fears,  and  consolations  and 
joys,  which  bear  no  relation  to  the  material  and  sensible  iiniverse. 
The  criminal  indulgence  of  sensual  passions  admits  but  of  tw^o  modes 
of  prevei.tion  ;  the  establishment  of  such  laws  and  maxims  in  society 
as  shall  render  lewd  profligacy  impracticable  or  infamous,  or  the  infu- 
sion of  such  principles  and  habits  as  shall  render  it  distasteful.  Hu- 
man legislatures  have  encountered  the  disease  in  the  first,  the  truths 
and  sanctions  of  revealed  religion  in  the  last  of  these  methods  :  to 
both  of  which  the  advocates  of  modern  infidelity  are  equally  hostile. 

So  much  has  been  said  by  many  able  writers  to  evince  the  incon- 
ceivable benefit  of  the  marriage  institution,  that  to  hear  it  seriously 
attacked  by  men  who  style  themselves  philosophers,  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  must  awaken  indignation  and  surprise.  The 
object  of  this  discourse  leads  us  to  direct  our  attention  particularly  to 
the  influence  of  this  institution  on  the  civilization  of  the  world. 

From  the  records  of  revelation  we  learn  that  marriage,  or  the  per- 
manent union  of  the  sexes,  was  ordained  by  God,  and  existed,  under 
different  modifications,  in  the  early  infancy  of  mankind,  without  which 
they  could  never  have  emerged  from  barbarism.  For,  conceive  only 
what  eternal  discord,  jealousy,  and  violence  would  ensue,  were  the 
objects  of  the  tenderest  affections  secured  to  their  possessor  by  no  law 
or  tie  of  moral  obligation :  were  domestic  enjoyments  disturbed  by 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  41 

Incessant  fear,  and  licentiousness  inflamed  by  hope.  Who  could  find 
sufficient  tranquillity  of  mind  to  enable  him  to  plan  or  execute  any 
continued  scheme  of  action,  or  what  room  for  arts  or  sciences,  or  reli- 
gion, or  virtue,  in  that  state  in  which  the  chief  earthly  happiness  was 
exposed  to  every  lawless  invader ;  where  one  was  racked  with  an 
incessant  anxiety  to  keep  what  the  other  was  equally  eager  to  acquire  ? 
It  is  not  probable  in  itself,  independent  of  the  light  of  scripture,  that 
the  benevolent  Author  of  the  human  race  ever  placed  them  in  so 
wretched  a  condition  at  first :  it  is  certain  they  could  not  remain  in  it 
long  without  being  exterminated.  Marriage,  by  shutting  out  these 
evils,  and  enabling  every  man  to  rest  secure  in  his  enjoyments,  is  the 
great  civilizer  of  the  world  :  with  this  security  the  mind  is  at  liberty 
to  expand  in  generous  affections,  and  has  leisure  to  look  abroad,  and 
engage  in  the  pursuits  of  knowledge,  science,  and  virtue. 

Nor  is  it  in  this  way  only  that  marriage  institutions  are  essential  to 
the  welfare  of  mankind.  They  are  sources  of  tenderness,  as  well  as 
the  guardians  of  peace.  Without  the  permanent  union  of  the  sexes 
there  can  be  no  permanent  families :  the  dissolution  of  nuptial  ties  in- 
volves the  dissolution  of  domestic  society.  But  domestic  society  is  the 
seminary  of  social  affections,  the  cradle  of  sensibility,  where  the  first 
elements  are  acquired  of  that  tenderness  and  humanity  which  cement 
mankind  together ;  and  were  they  entirely  extinguished,  the  whole 
fabric  of  social  institutions  would  be  dissolved. 

Families  are  so  many  centres  of  attraction,  which  preserve  mankind 
from  being  scattered  and  dissipated  by  the  repulsive  powers  of  selfish- 
ness. The  order  of  nature  is  evermore  from  particulars  to  generals. 
As  in  the  operations  of  intellect  we  proceed  from  the  contemplation  of 
individuals  to  the  formation  of  general  abstractions,  so  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  passions,  in  like  manner,  we  advance  from  private  to  public 
aflfections ;  from  the  love  of  parents,  brothers,  and  sisters,  to  those 
more  expanded  regards  which  embrace  the  inmiense  society  of  human 
kind.* 

In  order  to  render  men  benevolent,  they  must  first  be  made  tender : 
for  benevolent  affections  are  not  the  offspring  of  reasoning ;  they 
result  from  that  culture  of  the  heart,  from  those  early  impressions  of 
tenderness,  gi-atitude,  and  sympathy,  which  the  end.carments  of  do- 
mestic life  are  sure  to  supply,  and  for  the  formation  of  which  it  is  the 
best  possible  school. 

The  advocates  of  infidelity  invert  this  eternal  order  *>f  nature.  In- 
stead of  inculcating  the  private  affections,  as  a  disciplii^e  by  which  the 
mind  is  prepared  for  those  of  a  more  public  nature,  they  r-et  them  in 
direct  opposition  to  each  other,  they  propose  to  build  general  benevo- 
lence on  the  destruction  of  individual  tenderness,  and  to  make  us  love 
the  whole  species  more  by  loving  every  particular  part  of  it  less.  In 
pursuit  of  this  chimerical  project,  gratitude,  humility,  conjugal,  pa- 

*  "Arctior  -vero  coUigatio  est  societatis  propinquorum:  ab  ilia  enim  immensa  societat.-^  Jiumaiii 
generis,  in  exiguum  angustumque  concluditur.  Nam  cum  sit  hoc  natura  commune  animanilum,  ut 
habeant  lubidinem  procreandi,  prima  societas  in  ipso  conjugio  est ;  proxima  in  libcris  ;  deind  una 
•lomus,  communia  omnia.  Id  autem  est  principium  urbis,  et  quasi  seminarium  reipublicae.  Tic 
ie  Off  lib.  i.  cap.  17.  * 


42  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

rent:il,  ami  lilial  anertion,  toociher  with  every  other  social  disposition, 
xire  reprohaifii — virtue  is  Hmiled  to  a  passionate  attaehmetit  to  the 
general  good.  Is  it  not  natural  to  ask,  when  all  the  tenderness  of  life 
is  extinguished,  and  all  the  bands  of  society  are  untwisted,  from 
M'heiu'e  this  ardent  alleftion  for  the  general  good  is  to  spring? 

When  'his  savage  philosophy  has  eonipleted  its  work,  when  it  has 
taught  its  disfi|)le  to  look  with  perfect  indilference  on  the  oll'spring  of 
liis  hoily  anil  the  wife  of  his  bosom,  to  estrange  himself  from  his 
friends,  insult  his  benefactors,  and  silence  the  pleadings  of  gratitude 
and  pity  ;  will  he,  by  dius  divesting  himself  of  all  that  is  human,  be 
better  prepared  for  the  disinterested  love  of  his  species  1  Will  he  be- 
come a  philanthropist  only  because  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  man? 
Rather,  in  this  total  exemption  from  all  the  feelings  which  humanize 
and  soften,  in  tliis  chilling  frost  of  universal  indifference,  may  we  not 
be  certain  that  selfishness  unmingled  and  uncontrolled  will  assume  the 
empire  of  his  heart ;  and  that  under  pretence  of  advancing  the  general 
good,  an  object  to  which  the  fancy  may  give  innumerable  shapes,  he 
will  be  prepared  for  the  violation  of  every  duty,  and  the  perpetration 
of  every  crime  ?  Extended  benevolence  is  the  last  and  most  perfect 
fruit  of  the  private  affections  ;  so  that  to  expect  to  reap  the  former 
from  the  extinction  of  the  latter,  is  to  oppose  the  means  to  the  end  ;  is 
as  absurd  as  to  attempt  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  highest  mountain 
without  passing  through  the  intermediate  spaces,  or  to  hope  to  attain 
the  heights  of  science  by  forgetting  the  first  elements  of  knowledge. 
These  absurdities  have  sprung,  however,  in  the  advocates  of  infidelity, 
from  an  ignorance  of  human  nature  sufficient  to  disgrace  even  those 
who  did  not  style  themselves  philosophers.  Presuming,  contrary  to 
the  experience  of  every  moment,  that  the  affections  are  awakened  by 
reasoning,  and  perceiving  that  the  general  good  is  an  incomparably 
greater  object  in  itself  than  the  happiness  of  any  limited  number  of 
individuals,  they  inferred  notliing  more  was  necessary  than  to  exhibit 
it  in  its  just  dimensions,  to  draw  the  affections  tow^ards  it ;  as  though 
the  fact  of  the  superior  populousness  of  China  to  Great  Britain  needed 
but  to  be  known  to  render  us  indifierent  to  our  domestic  concerns,  and 
lead  us  to  direct  all  our  anxiety  to  the  prosperity  of  that  vast  but  re- 
mote empire. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  reason  to  aw-aken  new  passions,  or  open 
new  sources  of  sensibility  :  but  to  direct  us  in  the  attainment  of  those 
objects  which  nature  has  already  rendered  pleasing,  or  to  determine 
among  the  interfering  inclinations  and  passions  which  sway  the  mind, 
which  are  the  fittest  to  be  preferred. 

Is  a  regard  to  the  general  good  then,  you  will  reply,  to  be  excluded 
from  the  motives  of  action  ?  Nothing  is  more  remote  from  my  inten- 
tion :  but  as  the  nature  of  this  motive  has,  in  my  opinion,  been  much 
misunderstood  by  some  good  men,  and  abused  by  others  of  a  different 
description  to  the  worst  of  purposes,  permit  me  to  declare,  in  a  few 
words,  what  appears  to  me  to  be  the  truth  on  this  subject. 

The  welfare  of  the  whole  system  of  being  must  be  allowed  to  be, 
initself,  the  object  of  all  others  the  most  Avorthy  of  being  pursued  ;  so 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  43 

mat,  could  the  mind  distinctly  embrace  it,  and  discern  al.  every  step 
what  action  would  infallibly  promote  it,  we  should  be  furnished  with  a 
sure  criterion  of  right  and  wrong,  an  unerring  guide,  which  would 
supersede  the  use  and  necessity  of  all  inferior  rules,  laws,  and 
principles. 

But  this  being  impossible,  smce  the  good  of  the  whole  is  a  motive  sc 
loose  and  indeterminate,  and  embraces  such  an  infinity  of  relations 
that  before  we  could  be  certain  what  action  it  prescribed,  the  season 
of  action  would  be  past ;  to  weak,  short-sighted  mortals  Providence 
has  assigned  a  sphere  of  agency  less  grand  and  extensive  indeed,  but 
better  suited  to  their  limited  powers,  by  implanting  certain  affections 
which  it  is  their  duty  to  cultivate,  and  suggesting  particular  rules  to 
which  they  are  bound  to  conform.  By  these  provisions  the  boundaries 
of  virtue  are  easily  ascertained,  at  the  same  time  that  its  ultimate  ob- 
ject, the  good  of  the  whole,  is  secured  ;  for,  since  the  happiness  of  the 
entire  system  results  from  the  happiness  of  the  several  parts,  the  affec- 
tions, which  confine  the  attention  immediately  to  the  latter,  conspire  in 
the  end  to  the  promotion  of  the  former;  as  the  labourer,  whose 
industry  is  limited  to  a  corner  of  a  large  building,  performs  his  part 
towards  rearing  the  structure  much  more  effectually  than  if  he  extended 
his  care  to  the  whole. 

As  the  interest,  however,  of  any  limited  number  of  persons  m?.y  not 
only  not  contribute,  but  may  possibly  be  directly  opposed  to  the  general 
good  (the  interest  of  a  family,  for  example,  to  that  of  a  province,  c»r  of 
a  nation  to  that  of  the  world).  Providence  has  so  ordered  it,  that  in  a 
well-regulated  mind  there  springs  up,  as  we  have  already  seen,  beside? 
particular  attachments,  an  extended  regard  to  the  species,  whose  office 
is  twofold :  not  to  destroy  and  extinguish  the  more  private  affections, 
which  is  mental  parricide  ;  but  first,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  the 
claims  of  those  who  are  immediately  committed  to  our  care,  to  do  good 
to  all  men ;  secondly,  to  exercise  a  jurisdiction  and  control  over  the 
private  affections,  so  as  to  prohibit  their  indulgence  whenever  it  would 
be  attended  with  manifest  detriment  to  the  whole.  Thus  every  part 
of  our  nature  is  brought  into  action  ;  all  the  practical  principles  of  the 
human  heart  find  an  element  to  move  in,  each  in  its  different  sort  and 
manner  conspiring,  without  mutual  collisions,  to  maintain  the  harmony 
of  the  world  and  the  happiness  of  the  universe.* 

*  It  is  somewhat  singular,  that  many  of  the  fashionable  infidels  have  hit  upon  a  definition  of 
virtue  which  perfectly  coincides  with  that  of  certain  metaphysical  divines  in  Ainerica,  first  invented 
and  defended  by  that  most  acute  reasoner,  Jonathan  Eivvards.  They  both  place  virtue  exclu 
sively  in  a  passion  for  the  general  good ;  or,  as  Mr.  Edwards  expresses  it,  love  to  being  in  general; 
so  that  our  love  is  always  to  be  proportioned  to  the  magnitude  of  its  object  in  the  scale  of  being, 
which  is  liable  to  the  objections  I  have  already  stated,  as  well  as  to  many  others  which  the  limits 
of  this  note  will  not  permit  me  to  enumerate.  Let  it  suffice  to  remark,  (1.)  That  virtue,  on  thesa 
principles,  is  an  utter  impossibility  :  for  the  system  of  being,  comprehending  the  great  Supreme,  is 
infinite:  and,  therefore,  to  maintain  the  proper  proportion,  the  force  of  particular  attachment  'nusi 
be  infinitely  less  than  the  passion  for  the  general  good;  but  the  limits  of  the  human  mind  are  not 
capable  of  any  emotion  so  infinitely  different  in  degree.  (2.)  Since  nur  views  of  the  extent  ot  th« 
universe  are  capable  of  perpetual  enlargement,  admitting  the  sum  of  existence  is  ever  the  same,  we 
must  return  back  at  each  step  to  diminish  the  strength  of  particular  alTections,  or  they  will  becom» 
disproportionate;  and  consequently,  on  these  principles,  vicious;  so  that  the  balance  must  be  con 
tinually  fluctuating,  by  the  weights  bcmg  taken  out  of  one  scale  and  put  into  the  other.  (3.)  If 
virtue  consist  exclusively  in  love  to  being  in  general,  or  attachment  \o  the  general  good,  the  par 
ticular  affections  are,  to  every  purpose  of  virtue,  useless,  and  even  pernicious ;  for  their  immediate 


44  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

Bpfore  I  oloso  this  discourse,  I  cannot  omit  to  mention  three  cir 
cumstances  attcnilinii  the  propagation  of  intidehty  hy  its  present  abet- 
ters, equally  new  and  alarming. 

I.  It  is  the  first  attempt  which  lias  been  ever  witnessed,  on  an 
extensive  scale,  to  eslablish  tlic  principles  of  atheism;  the  first  effort 
whicii  inscury  has  recorded  to  disannul  and  extinguish  the  belief  of 
all  superior  powers  ;  the  consequence  of  wliich,  should  it  succeed, 
would  be  to  place  maidcind  in  a  situation  never  before  ex{)cricnced, 
not  c\(\\  during  the  ages  of  pagan  darkness.  The  system  of  poly- 
theism was  as  remote  from  modern  infidelity  as  from  true  religion. 
Amid  that  rubbish  of  superstition,  the  product  of  fear,  ignorance,  and 
vice,  which  had  been  accumulating  for  ages,  some  faint  embers  of 
sacred  truth  remained  unextinguished  ;  the  interposition  of  unseen 
powers  in  the  affairs  of  men  was  believed  and  revered,  the  sanctity  of 
oaths  was  maintained,  the  idea  of  revelation  and  of  tradition  as  a 
source  of  religious  knowledge  was  famdiar ;  a  useful  persuasion  of 
the  existence  of  a  future  world  was  kept  alive,  and  the  greater  gods 
were  looked  up  to  as  the  guardians  of  the  public  welfare,  the  patrons 
of  those  virtues  which  promote  the  prosperity  of  states,  and  the  aven- 
gers of  injustice,  perfidy,  and  fraud.* 

nay,  their  necessary  tendency  is  to  attract  to  their  objects  a  proportion  of  attention  which  far  exceeua 
their  comparative  value  in  the  general  scale.  To  allege  that  the  general  good  is  promoted  by  them 
will  be  of  no  advantage  to  the  defence  of  this  system,  but  the  contrary,  by  confessing  that  a  greate- 
sum  of  happiness  is  attained  by  a  deviation  from,  than  an  adherence  to,  its  principles ;  unless  its 
advocates  mean  by  the  love  of  being  in  general  the  same  thing  as  the  private  affections,  which  is  to 
confound  all  the  distinctions  of  language,  as  well  as  all  the  operations  of  mind.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered, we  have  no  dispute  respecting  what  is  the  ultimate  end  of  virtue,  which  is  allowed  on  both 
sides  to  be  the  greatest  sum  of  happiness  in  the  universe.  The  question  is  merely,  what  is  virtue 
itself?  or,  in  other  words,  what  are  the  means  appointed  for  the  attainment  of  that  end? 

TTiere  is  little  doubt,  from  some  parts  of  Mr.  Godwin's  work  entitled  "  Political  Justice,"  as  well 
as  from  his  early  habits  of  reading,  that  he  was  indebted  to  Mr.  Edwards  for  his  principal  argu- 
ments against  the  private  affections ;  though,  with  a  daring  consistence,  he  has  pursued  his  princi- 
ples to  an  extreme  from  which  that  most  excellent  man  would  have  revolted  with  horror.  The 
fundamental  error  of  the  whole  system  arose,  as  1  conceive,  from  a  mistaken  pursuit  of  simplicity : 
from  a  wish  to  construct  a  moral  system,  vfithout  leaving  sutficient  scope  for  the  infinite  variety  of 
moral  phenomena  and  mental  combination ;  in  consequence  of  which  its  advocates  were  induced 
to  place  virtue  exclusively  in  some  one  disposition  of  mind :  and,  since  the  passion  for  the  general 
good  is  undeniably  the  noblest  and  most  extensive  of  all  others,  when  it  was  once  resolved  to  place 
virtue  in  any  one  thing,  there  remained  little  room  to  hesitate  which  should  be  preferred.  It  might 
have  been  worth  while  to  reflect,  that  in  the  natural  world  there  are  two  kinds  of  attraction  ;  one, 
which  holds  the  several  parts  of  individual  bodies  in  contact ;  another,  which  maintains  the  tinion 
of  bodies  themselves  with  the  general  system  :  and  that,  though  the  union  in  the  former  case  ia 
much  more  intimate  than  in  the  latter,  each  is  equally  essential  to  the  order  of  the  world.  Similar 
to  this  is  the  relation  which  the  public  and  private  affections  l)ear  to  each  other,  and  their  ase  in  the 
moral  system. 

*  The  testimony  of  Polybius  to  the  beneficial  effects  which  resulted  from  the  system  of  pagan 
superstition,  in  fortifying  the  sentiments  of  moral  obligation,  and  supporting  the  sanctity  of  oaths, 
is  so  weighty  and  decisive,  that  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  the  subject  not  to  insert  it ;  more  espe 
cially  as  it  is  impossible  to  attribute  it  to  the  influence  of  credulity  on  the  author  himself,  who  was 
evidently  a  skeptic.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  that  all  the  benefits  which  might  in  any  way 
flow  from  superstition,  are  secured  lo  an  incomparably  greater  degree  by  the  belief  of  true  religion 

'•  But  among  all  the  useful  institutions,"  says  Polybius,  "  that  demonstrate  the  superior  excellence 
of  the  Roman  government,  the  most  considerable,  perhaps,  is  the  opinion  which  p|eople  are  taught 
to  hold  concerning  the  gods:  and  that  which  other  men  regard  as  an  object  of  disgrace  appears, 
in  my  judgment,  to  be  the  very  thing  by  which  this  republic  is  chiefly  sustained.  I  mean  supersti- 
tion, which  is  impressed  with  all  its  terrors,  and  influences  the  private  actions  of  the  ciliiens  and 
the  public  administration  of  the  state,  to  a  degree  that  can  scarcely  be  exceeded. 

"The  ancients,  therefore,  acted  not  absurdly,  nor  without  good  reason,  when  they  inculcated  the 
notions  concerning  the  gods,  and  the  belief  of  infernal  punishments;  but  much  rather  are  those  of 
the  present  age  to  be  charged  with  rashness  and  absurdity,  in  endeavourine  to  extirpate  these 
opinions;  for,  not  to  mention  other  effects  that  flow  from  such  an  institution,  if  among  the  Greeks, 
lor  example,  a  singje  talent  only  be  intrusted  to  those  who  have  the  management  of  any  of  the 
public  money,  though  they  give  ten  written  sureties,  with  as  many  seals,  and  twice  as  many  wit- 
nesses, they  are  unable  lo  discliarge  the  trust  reposed  in  them  with  integrity.    But  the  Romans,  on 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  43 

Of  whatever  benefit  superstition  might  formerly  be  productive!,  by 
the  scattered  particles  of  truth  which  it  contained,  these  advantages 
can  now  only  be  reaped  from  the  soil  of  true  religion ;  nor  is  there 
any  other  alternative  left  than  the  belief  of  Christianity,  or  absohite 
atheism.  In  the  revolutions  of  the  human  mind,  exploded  opinions  are 
often  revived ;  but  an  exploded  superstition  never  recovers  its  credit. 
The  pretension  to  divine  revelation  is  so  august  and  commandmg, 
that  when  its  falsehood  is  once  discerned,  it  is  covered  with  all  the 
ignominy  of  detected  imposture  ;  it  falls  from  such  a  height  (to  change 
the  figure)  that  it  is  inevitably  crumbled  into  atoms.  Religions, 
whether  false  or  true,  are  not  creatures  of  arbitrary  institution.  After 
discrediting  the  principles  of  piety,  should  our  modern  freethinkers 
find  it  necessary,  in  order  to  restrain  the  excesses  of  ferocity,  to  seek 
for  a  substitute  in  some  popular  superstition,  it  will  prove  a  vain  and 
impracticable  attempt :  they  may  recall  the  names,  restore  the  altars, 
and  revive  the  ceremonies ;  but  to  rekindle  the  spirit  of  heathenism 
will  exceed  their  power ;  because  it  is  impossible  to  enact  ignorance 
by  law,  or  to  repeal  by  legislative  authority  the  dictates  of  reason  and 
the  light  of  science. 

2.  The  efibrts  of  infidels  to  diffuse  the  principles  of  infidelity  among 
the  common  people  is  another  alarming  symptom  peculiar  to  the 
present  time.  Hume,  Bolingbroke,  and  Gibbon  addressed  them- 
selves solely  to  the  more  polished  classes  of  the  community,  and 
would  have  thought  their  refined  speculations  debased  by  an  attempt 
to  enlist  disciples  from  among  the  populace. .  Infidelity  has  lately 
grown  condescending ;  bred  in  the  speculations  of  a  daring  philosophy, 
immured  at  first  in  the  cloisters  of  the  learned,  and  afterward  nursed 
in  the  lap  of  voluptuousness  and  of  courts  ;  having  at  length  reached 
its  full  maturity,  it  boldly  ventures  to  challenge  the  suffrages  of  the 
people,  solicits  the  acquaintance  of  peasants  and  mechanics,  and  seeks 
to  draw  whole  nations  to  its  standard. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  account  for  this  new  state  of  things.  While 
infidelity  was  rare,  it  was  employed  as  the  instrument  of  literary 
vanity;  its  wide  diffusion  having  disqualified  it  for  answering  that 
purpose,  it  is  now  adopted  as  the  organ  of  political  convulsion.  Lite- 
rary distinction  is  conferred  by  the  approbation  of  a  few  ;  but  the  total 

the  other  hand,  who  in  the  course  of  their  magistracies  and  in  embassies  disburse  the  greatest  sums, 
are  prevailed  on  by  the  single  obligation  of  an  oath  to  perform  their  duty  with  inviolable  honesty. 
>,nd  as  in  other  states  a  man  is  rarely  to  be  found  whose  hands  are  pure  from  public  robbery,  so 
among  the  Romans  it  is  no  less  rare  to  discover  one  that  is  tainted  with  this  crime."— i/ampro»'« 
Polybms,  vol.  iii.  book  vi. 

Though  the  system  of  paganism  is  justly  condemned  by  reason  and  scripture,  yet  it  assumed  at, 
<rue  several  principles  of  the  first  importance  to  the  preservation  of  ])ublic  manners  ;  such  as  a  per- 
Kuasioii  of  invisible  power,  of  the  folly  of  incurring  the  divine  vengeance  for  the  attainment  of  any 
present  advantage,  and  the  divine  approbation  of  virtue:  so  that,  strictly  speaking,  it  was  the  mix- 
ture of  truth  in  it  which  gave  it  all  its  utility,  which  is  well  stated  by  the  great  and  judicious 
Hooker  in  treating  on  this  subject.  "  Seeing,  ttierel'ore,  it  doth  thus  appear,"  says  that  venerable 
author,  '•  that  the  safety  of  all  states  dependeth  upon  religion  ;  that  religion,  unfeignedly  loved,  per- 
fecteth  men's  abilities  unto  all  kinds  of  virtuous  services  in  the  commonwealth;  that  men's  desire 
is,  in  general,  to  hold  ra  religion  but  the  true;  and  that  whatever  good  effects  do  grow  out  of  their 
religion,  who  embrace,  instead  of  tlie  true,  a  false,  the  roots  thereof  are  certain  sparks  of  the  light 
of  truth  intermingled  with  the  darkness  of  error:  because  no  religion  can  wholly  and  only  consist 
of  untruths,  we  have  reason  to  think  that  all  true  virtues  are  to  honour  true  religion  as  tlieir  parent, 
and  all  well-ordered  commonweals  to  love  her  as  their  chiefest  stay." — Eccles.  Pol.  book  v 


4G  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

subversion  ami  overthrow  of  society  demands  the  concurrence  of 
millions. 

3.  The  infulels  of  the  present  day  are  the  first  sophists  who  have 
presumed  to  innovate  in  the  very  substance  of  morals.  Tlie  disputes 
on  moral  questions  hitlierto  agitated  among  philosophers  have  respected 
the  i^rotinds  of  duty,  not  the  nature  of  duty  itself;  or  they  have  been 
merelv  nu-laphysical,  and  related  to  the  histon/  of  moral  sentiments  in 
the  mind,  tlu^  sources  and  priiu-iples  from  whicli  they  were  most  easily 
deduced;  thev  never  turned  on  the  quality  of  those  dispositions  and 
actions  wliich  were  to  be  denominated  virtuous.  In  the  firm  persua- 
sion that  the  love  and  fear  of  the  Supreme  Being,  the  sacred  observa- 
tion of  promises  and  oaths,  reverence  to  magistrates,  obedience  to 
parents,  gxatitude  to  benefactors,  conjugal  fidelity,  and  parental  ten- 
derness were  primary  virtues,  and  the  chief  support  of  every  com- 
monwealth, they  were  unanimous.  The  curse  denounced  upon  such 
as  remove  ancient  landmarks,  upon  those  who  call  good  evil,  and  evil 
good,  put  light  for  darkness,  and  darkness  for  light,  who  employ  their 
faculties  to  subvert  the  eternal  distinctions  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
dms  to  poison  the  streams  of  virtue  at  their  source,  falls  with  accu- 
mulated weight  on  the  advocates  of  modern  infidelity,  and  on  them 
alone. 

Permit  me  to  close  this  discourse  with  a  few  serious  reflections. — 
There  is  much,  it  must  be  confessed,  in  the  apostacy  of  multitudes, 
and  the  rapid  progress  of  infidelity,  to  awaken  our  fears  for  the  virtue 
of  the  rising  generation ;  but  nothing  to  shake  our  faith, — nothing 
which  Scripture  itself  does  not  give  us  room  to  expect.  The  features 
which  compose  the  character  of  apostates,  their  profaneness,  pre- 
sumption, lewdness,  impatience  of  subordination,  restless  appetite  for 
change,  vain  pretensions  to  freedom  and  to  emancipate  the  world, 
while  themselves  are  the  slaves  of  lust,  the  weapons  with  which  they 
attack  Christianity,  and  the  snares  they  spread  for  the  unwary,  are 
depicted  in  the  clearest  colours  by  the  pencil  of  prophecy :  Knowing 
this  first  (says  Peter),  that  there  shall  come  in  the  last  days  scoffers 
walking  after  their  own  lusts*  In  the  same  epistle  he  more  fully 
describes  the  persons  he  alludes  to ;  as  chiefly  them  which  walk  after 
the  flesh,  in  the  lust  of  uncleanness,  and  despise  government ;  presump- 
tuous are  they,  selfivilled,  they  are  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignities ; 
sporting  themselves  in  their  own  deceivings,  having  eyes  full  of  adultery, 
and  that  cannot  cease  from  sin ;  beguiling  unstable  souls :  for  ivhen 
they  speak  great  swelling  words  of  vanity,  they  allure  through  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh,  throu  jh  much  wantonness,  those  that  were  clean  escaped 
from  them  who  live  in  error;  while  they  promise  them  liberty,  they 
themselves  are  the  servants  of  corruption.]  Of  the  same  characters 
Jude  admonishes  us  to  remember  that  they  were  foretold  as  mockers 
who  should  be  in  the  last  time,  loho  should  walk  after  their  own  ungodly 
lusts.  These  be  they  (he  adds)  who  separate  themselves  (by  apostacy). 
stnsuul,  not  having  the  Spirit.     Infidelity  is  an  evil  of  short  duration 

*  I  Pet.  iii  3  1 2  Per.  li  10,  &c 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  47 

"Jz  has  (as  a  judicious  writer  obsei*ves),  no  individual,  subsistence 
given  it  in  the  system  of  prophecy.  It  is  not  a  beast, — but  a  mere 
putrid  excrescence  of  the  papal  beast :  an  excrescence  which,  though  it 
may  diffuse  death  through  every  vein  of  the  body  on  v-hich  it  grew,  yet 
shall  die  along  with  it.''*  Its  enormities  will  hasten  its  overthrow.  It 
is  impossible  that  a  system  which,  by  vilifying  every  virtue,  and  em- 
bracing the  patronage  of  almost  every  vice  and  crime,  wages  war  with 
all  the  order  and  civilization  of  the  world ;  which,  equal  to  the  estab 
Hshment  of  nothing,  is  armed  only  with  the  energies  of  destruction, 
can  long  retain  an  ascendency.  It  is  in  no  shape  formed  for  perpe- 
tuity. Sudden  m  its  rise  and  nnpetuous  in  its  progress  ;  it  resembles 
a  mountain-torrent,  which  is  loud,  filthy,  and  desolating ;  but,  being 
fed  by  no  perennial  spring,  is  soon  drained  ofl'  and  disappears.  I3y 
permitting  to  a  certain  extent  the  prevalence  of  infidelity.  Providence 
is  preparing  new  triumphs  for  religion.  In  asserting  its  authority, 
the  preachers  of  the  gospel  have  hitherto  found  it  necessary  to  weigh 
the  prospects  of  immortality  against  the  interests  of  time  :  to  strip  the 
world  of  its  charms,  to  insist  on  the  deceitfulness  of  pleasure,  the 
unsatisfying  nature  of  riches,  the  emptiness  of  grandeur,  and  the 
nothingness  of  a  mere  worldly  life.  Topics  of  this  nature  will  always 
have  their  use  ;  but  it  is  not  by  such  representations  alone  that  the 
importance  of  religion  is  evinced.  The  prevalence  of  impiety  has 
armed  us  with  new  weapons  in  its  defence. 

Religion  being  primarily  intended  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation, 
the  support  it  ministers  to  social  order,  the -stability  it  confers  on 
government  and  laws,  is  a  subordinate  species  of  advantage  which  we 
should  have  continued  to  enjoy,  without  reflecting  on  its  cause,  but  for 
the  development  of  deistical  principles,  and  the  experiment  which  has 
been  made  of  their  effects  in  a  neighbotxring  country.  It  had  been  the 
constant  boast  of  infidels,  that  their  system,  more  liberal  and  generous 
than  Christianity,  needed  but  to  be  -tried  to  produce  an  immense  acces- 
sion to  human  happiness ;  and  Christian  nations,  careless  and  supine, 
retaining  little  of  religion  but  the  profession,  and  disgusted  with  its 
restraints,  lent  a  favourable  ear  to  these  pretensions.  God  permitted 
the  trial  to  be  made.  In  one  country,  and  tliat  the  centre  of  Christen- 
dom, revelation  underwent  a  total  eclipse,!  while  atheism,  perforrhing 
on  a  darkened  theatre  its  strange  and  fearful  tragedy,  confounded  the 
first  elements  of  society,  blended  every  age,  rank,  and  sex  in  indis- 
criminate proscription  and  m.assacre,  and  convulsed  all  Europe  to  its 
centre ;  that  the  imperishable  memorial  of  these  events  might  teach 
the  last  generations  of  mankind  to  consider  religion  as  the  pillar  of  so- 
ciety, the  safeguard  of  nations,  the  parent  of  social  order,  which  alone 
has  power  to  curb  the  fury  of  the  passions,  and  secure  to  every  one 
his  rights ;  to  the  laborious  the  reward  of  their  industry,  to  the  rich 

*  See  an  excellent  wort  by  the  Rev.  Andrew  Fuller,  entitled  "The  Gospel  its  own  Witness." 
t  It  is  worthy  of  attention  that  Mercier,  a  warm  advocate  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  a  pro- 
fessed Deist,  in  his  recent  work  entitled  "  New  Paris,"  acknowledges  ami  lanuMils  ihe  extinction  of 
religion  in  France.  "  We  have,"  says  he,  "  in  proscrib'mg  superstition,  dcslroiind  all  religiovs  senti- 
ment;  but  this  is  not  tlie  way  to  regenerate  the  world." — See  Appendix  to  the  30tli  vol.  Moiitblv 
Beview. 


48  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

tlie  enjovmont  of  their  wealth,  to  iiohU>s  the  prcscr\  ution  of  their  hon- 
ours, ami  to  priiiees  the  stability  of  their  thrones. 

We  might  ask  the  patrons  of  infidelity  wliat  fuiy  impels  them  to 
Httemin  the  subversion  of  Christianity  I  Is  it  that  they  have  discovered 
a  better  system  I  To  what  virtues  are  their  prineiples  favouraI)le?  Or 
IS  there  one  which  Christians  have  not  carried  to  a  Irigher  perfection 
than  any  of  which  their  party  can  boast  ?  Have  they  discovered  a 
more  excellent  rule  of  life,  or  a  better  hope  in  death,  than  that  which 
the  Scriptures  suggest?  Above  all,  what  are  the  pretensions  on 
which  they  re:3t  their  claims  to  be  the  guides  of  mankind ;  or  which 
imbolden  them  to  expect  we  should  trample  upon  the  experience  of 
aoes,  and  abandon  a  religion  which  has  been  attested  by  a  train  of 
miracles  and  prophecies,  in  which  millions  of  our  forefathers  have 
found  a  refuge  in  every  trouble,  and  consolation  in  the  hour  of  death  ; 
a  religion  which  hais  been  adorned  with  the  highest  sanctity  of  charac- 
ter and  splendour  of  talents,  which  enrols  among  its  disciples  the  names 
of  Bacox,  Newton,  and  Locke,  the  glory  of  their  species,  and  to 
which  these  illustrious  men  were  proud  to  dedicate  the  last  and  best 
fruits  of  their  immortal  genius  ? 

If  the  question  at  issue  is  to  be  decided  by  argimient,  nothing  can 
be  added  to  the  triumph  of  Christianity ;  if  by  an  appeal  to  authority, 
what  have  our  adversaries  to  oppose  to  these  great  names  ?  Wtiere 
are  the  infidels  of  such  pure,  uncontaminated  morals,  unshaken  probity, 
and  extended  benevolence,  that  we  should  be  in  danger  of  being 
seduced  into  impiety  by  their  example  1  Into  what  obscure  recesses 
of  misery,  into  what  dungeons  have  their  philanthropists  penetrated,  to 
lighten  the  fetters  and  relieve  the  sorrows  of  the  helpless  captive  1 
"NVhat  barbarous  tribes  have  their  apostles  visited  ;  what  distant  climes 
have  they  explored,  encompassed  with  cold,  nakedness,  and  want,  to 
diffuse  principles  of  virtue,  and  the  blessings  of  civilization?  Or  will 
they  rather  choose  to  w"aive  their  pretensions  to  this  extraordmary  and, 
in  their  eyes,  eccentric  species  of  benevolence  (for  infidels,  we  know, 
are  sworn  enemies  to  enthusiasm  of  every  sort),  and  rest  their  charactei 
on  their  political  exploits, — on  their  efforts  to  reanimate  the  virtue  of  a 
sulking  state,  to  restrain  licentiousness,  to  calm  the  tumult  of  popular 
fury,  and  by  inculcating  the  spirit  of  justice,  moderation,  and  pity  for 
fallen  greatness,  to  mitigate  the  inevitable  horrors  of  revolution  ?  our 
adversaries  will  at  least  have  the  discretion,  if  not  the  modesty,  to 
recede  from  the  test. 

More  than  all,  their  infatuated  eagerness,  their  parricidal  zeal  to 
extinguish  a  sense  of  Deity  must  excite  astonishment  and  horror.  Is 
the  idea  of  an  almighty  and  perfect  Ruler  unfriendly  to  any  passion 
which  is  consistent  with  innocence,  or  an  obstruction  to  any  design 
which  it  is  not  shameful  to  avow  ?  Eternal  God,  on  what  are  thine 
enemies  intent !  What  are  those  enterprises  of  guilt  and  horror,  that, 
for  the  safety  of  their  performers,  re<iuire  to  be  enveloped  in  a  darkness 
which  the  eye  of  Heaven  must  not  pierce  !  Miserable  men  !  Proud 
of  being  the  offspring  of  chance ;  in  love  with  universal  disorder ; 
ivhose  happiness  is  involved  in  the  belief  of  there  being  no  witness  to 


MODERN  INFIDELIT5^   CONSIDERED.  49 

th*ir  designs,  and  who  are  at  ease  only  because  they  suppose  them- 
selves inhabitants  of  a  forsaken  and  fatherless  world  ! 

Having  been  led  by  the  nature  of  the  subject  to  consider  chiefly  the 
manner  in  which  skeptical  impiety  afiects  the  welfare  of  states,  it  is 
the  more  requisite  to  warn  you  against  that  most  fatal  mistake  of 
regarding  religion  as  an  engine  of  policy ;  and  to  recall  to  your  recol- 
lection that  the  concern  we  have  in  it  is  much  more  as  individuals  than 
as  collective  bodies,  and  far  less  temporal  than  eternal.  The  happiness 
which  it  confers  in  the  preseijl  life  comprehends  the  blessings  which 
it  scatters  by  the  way  in  its  march  to  immortality.  That  future  con- 
dition of  being  which  it  ascertains,  and  for  which  its  promises  and 
truths  are  meant  to  prepare  us,  is  the  ultimate  end  of  human  societies, 
the  final  scope  and  object  of  present  existence ;  in  comparison  of 
which  all  the  revolutions  of  nations  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  time 
are  light  and  transitory.  Godliness  has,  it  is  true,  the  promise  of  the 
life  that  now  is ;  but  chiefly  of  that  which  is  to  come.  Other  acquisi- 
tions may  be  requisite  to  make  men  great ;  but,  be  assured,  the  religion 
of  Jesus  is  alone  sufficient  to  make  them  good  and  happy.  Powerful 
sources  of  consolation  in  sorrow,  unshaken  fortitude  amid  the  changes 
and  perturbations  of  the  world,  humility  remote  from  meanness,  and 
dignity  unstained  by  pride,  contentment  in  every  station,  passions  pure 
and  calm,  with  habitual  serenity,  the  full  enjoyment  of  life,  undisturbed 
by  the  dread  of  dissolution  or  the  fear  of  an  hereafter,  are  its  invalua- 
ble gifts.  To  these  enjoyments,  however,  you  will  necessarily  con 
tinue  strangers,  unless  you  resign  yourselves  wholly  to  its  power ;  for 
the  consolations  of  religion  are  reserved  to  reward,  to  sweeten,  and  to 
stimulate  obedience.  Many,  without  renouncing  the  profession  of 
Christianity,  without  formally  rejecting  its  distinguishing  doctrines, 
live  in  such  an  habitual  violation  of  its  laws  and  contradiction  to  its 
spirij,  that,  conscious  they  have  more  to  fear  than  to  hope  from  its 
truth,  they  are  never  able  to  contemplate  it  without  terror.  It  haunts 
their  imagination,  instead  of  tranquillizing  their  hearts,  and  hangs  with 
depressing  weight  on  all  their  enjoyments  and  pursuits.  Their  religion, 
instead  of  comforting  them  under  their  troubles,  is  itself  their  greatest 
trouble,  from  which  they  seek  refuge  in  the  dissipation  and  vanity  of 
the  world,  until  the  throbs  and  tumults  of  conscience  force  them  back 
upon  religion.  Thus  suspended  between  opposite  powers,  the  sport 
of  contradictory  influences,  they  are  disqualified  for  the  happiness  of 
both  worlds ;  and  neither  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  nor  the  peace  of 
piety.  Is  it  surprising  to  find  a  mind  thus  bewildered  in  uncertainty 
and  dissatisfied  with  itself,  courting  deception,  and  embracing  with 
eagerness  every  pretext  to  mutilate  the  claims  and  enervate  the  au- 
thority of  Christianity  ;  forgetting  that  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  the 
religious  principle  to  preside  and  control,  and  that  it  is  impossible  to 
serve  God  and  mammon  ?  It  is  this  class  of  professors  who  are 
chiefly  in  danger  of  being  entangled  in  the  snares  of  infidelity. 

The  champions  of  infidelity  have  much  more  reason  to  be  ashamed 
than  to  boast  of  such  converts.  For  what  can  be  a  stronger  presump- 
tion of  the  falsehood  of  a  system,  than  that  it  is  the  opiate  of  a  restless 

VoT..  L— D 


50  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

conscience  ;  that  it  prevails  witli  minds  of  a  certain  description,  not  be- 
cause tliev  lind  it  true,  hut  because  they  feel  it  necessary ;  and  that  in 
adoptinsj  it  tliey  consult  less  with  their  reason  than  witti  their  vices 
and  their  fears  ?  It  requires  but  little  sagacity  to  foresee  that  specula- 
tions which  originate  in  guilt  must  end  in  ruin.  Infidels  are  not 
themselves  satisfied  with  the  truth  of  their  system;  for  had  they  any 
settled  assurance  of  its  principles,  in  consequence  of  calm  dispassion- 
ate investigation,  tliey  would  never  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  world  by 
their  attempts  to  proselyte ;  but  would  lament  their  own  infelicity,  in 
not  being  able  to  perceive  sufficient  evidence  for  the  truth  of  religion, 
which  furnishes  such  incentives  to  virtue,  and  inspires  such  exalted 
hopes.  Having  nothing  to  substitute  in  the  place  of  religion,  it  is 
absurd  to  suppose  that,  in  opposition  to  the  collective  voice  of  every 
country,  age,  and  time  proclaiming  its  necessity,  solicitude  for  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind  impels  tliem  to  destroy  it. 

To  very  difierent  motives  must  their  conduct  be  imputed.  More 
like  conspirators  than  philosophers,  in  spite  of  the  darkness  with 
which  they  endeavour  to  surround  themselves,  some  rays  of  unwel- 
come conviction  will  penetrate,  some  secret  apprehensions  that  all  is 
not  right  will  make  themselves  felt,  which  they  find  nothing  so  effectual 
to  quell  as  an  atteinpt  to  enlist  fresh  disciples,  who,  in  exchange  for 
new  principles,  impart  confidence  and  diminish  fear.  For  the  same 
reason  it  is  seldom  they  attack  Christianity  by  argument :  their  favour  • 
its  weapons  are  ridicule,  obscenity,  and  blasphemy ;  as  the  most  mis- 
erable outcasts  of  society  are,  of  all  men,  found  most  to  delight  in 
vulgar  merriment  and  senseless  riot. 

Jesus  Christ  seems  to  have  his  fan  in  his  hand,  to  be  thoroughly 
purging  his  jioor ;  and  nominal  Christians  will  probably  be  scattered 
like  chaff.  But  has  real  Christianity  any  thing  to  fear  1  Have  not 
the  degenerate  manners  and  corrupt  lives  of  multitudes  in  the  visible 
church  been,  on  the  contrary,  the  principal  occasion  of  scandal  and 
offence?  Infidelity,  without  intending  it,  is  gradually  removing  tliis 
reproach :  possessing  the  property  of  attracting  to  itself  the  morbid 
humours  which  pervade  the  church,  until  the  Christian  profession,  on 
the  one  hand,  is  reduced  to  a  sound  and  healthy  state,  and  skepticism, 
on  the  other,  exhibits  nothing  but  a  mass  of  putridit)-  and  disease. 

In  a  view  of  the  final  issue  of  the  contest,  we  should  find  little 
cause  to  lament  the  astonishing  prevalence  of  infidelity,  but  for  a 
solicitude  for  the  rising  generation,  to  whom  its  principles  are  recom- 
mended by  two  motives,  with  young  minds  the  most  persuasive, — the 
love  of  independence,  and  the  love  of  pleasure.  With  respect  to  the 
firs%  we  would  earnestly  entreat  the  young  to  remember  that,  by  the 
unai.iimous  consent  of  all  ages,  modesty,  docility,  and  reverence  to 
superior  years,  and  to  parents  above  all,  have  been  considered  as  their 
appropriate  virtues,  a  guard  assigned  by  the  immutable  laws  of  God 
and  nature  on  the  inexperience  of  youth  ;  and  with  respect  to  the  second, 
that  Christianity  prohibits  no  pleasures  that  are  innocent,  lays  no 
restraints  that  are  capricious ;  but  that  the  sobriety  and  purity  which 
it  enjoins,  by  strengthening  the  Intellectual  powers,  and  preserving 


MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED.  51 

the  faculties  of  mind  and  body  in  undiminished  vigour,  lay  the  surest 
foundation  of  present  peace  and  future  eminence.  At  such  a  season 
as  this,  it  becomes  an  urgent  duty  on  parents,  guardians,  and  tutors 
to  watch,  not  only  over  the  morals,  but  the  principles  of  those  com- 
mitted to  their  care  ;  to  make  it  appear  that  a  concern  for  their  eternal 
welfare  is  their  chief  concern ;  and  to  imbue  them  early  with  that 
knowledge  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and  that  profound  reve- 
rence for  the  Scriptures,  that,  with  the  blessing  of  God  (whicli,  with 
submission,  they  may  then  expect),  may  keep  them  from  this  hour  of 
temptatio7i  that  has  come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  or 
the  earth. 

To  an  attentive  observer  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  will  appear 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  phenomena  of  this  eventful  crisis,  that, 
amid  the  ravages  of  atheism  and  infidelity,  real  religion  is  evidently 
on  the  increase.  The  kingdom  of  God,  we  know,  cometh  not  with 
observation  ;  but  still  there  are  not  wanting  manifest  tokens  of  its  ap- 
proach. The  personal  appearance  of  the  Son  of  God  was  announced 
by  the  shaking  of  nations ;  his  spiritual  kingdom,  in  all  probability, 
will  be  established  in  the  midst  of  similar  convulsions  and  disorders. 
The  blasphemous  impiety  of  the  enemies  of  God,  as  well  as  the  zeal- 
ous eflbrts  of  his  sincere  worshippers,  will  doubtless  be  overruled  to 
accomplish  the  purposes  of  his  unerring  providence  :  while,  in  inflict- 
ing the  chastisements  of  ofl"ended  Deity  on  corrupt  communities  and 
nations,  infidelity  marks  its  progress  by  devastation  and  ruin,  by  the 
prostration  of  thrones  and  concussion  of  kingdoms;  thus  appalling  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world,  and  compelling  them  to  take  refuge  in  the 
church  of  God,  the  true  sanctuary ;  the  stream  of  divine  knowledge, 
unobserved,  is  flowing  in  new  channels,  winding  its  course  among 
humble  valleys,  refreshing  thirsty  deserts,  and  enriching  with  far 
other  and  higher  blessings  than  those  of  commerce  the  most  distant 
climes  and  nations,  until,  agreeably  te  the  prediction  of  prophecy,  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  fill  and  cover  the  whole  earth. 

Within  the  limits  of  this  discourse  it  would  be  impracticable  to  ex 
hibit  the  evidences  of  Christianity ;  nor  is  it  my  design :  but  there  is 
one  consideration,  resulting  immediately  from  my  text,  which  is  enti- 
tled to  great  weight  with  all  who  believe  in  the  one  living  and  true 
God  as  the  sole  object  of  worship.  The  Ephesians,  in  common  with 
other  Gentiles,  are  described  in  the  text  as  being,  previous  to  theii 
conversion,  without  God  in  the  world;  that  is,  without  any  just  and 
solid  acquaintance  with  his  character,  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of 
his  will,  the  institutes  of  his  worship,  and  the  hopes  of  his  favour ;  to 
the  truth  of  which  representation,  whoever  possesses  the  slightest 
acquaintance  with  pagan  antiquity  must  assent.  Nor  is  it  a  fact  less 
incontestable,  that,  while  human  philosophy  was  never  able  to  abolish 
idolatry  in  a  single  village,  the  promulgation  of  the  gospel  overthrew 
it  in  a  great  part  (and  that  the  most  enlightened)  of  the  world.  If  our 
belief  in  the  unity  and  perfections  of  God,  together  with  his  moral 
government  and  exclusive  right  to  the  worship  of  mankind,  be  founded 
ui  truth,  they  cannot  reasonably  be  denied  to  be  truths  of  the  first 

D  2 


53  MODERN  INFIDELITY  CONSIDERED. 

importaiu'p,  aiul  infinitely  to  outweigh  the  greatest  discoveries  in  sci- 
ence ;  because  thcv  turn  the  liojies,  tears,  and  interests  of  man  into  a 
totally  diflerent  channel  from  that  in  which  they  must  otherwise  flow. 
Wherever  these  principles  are  first  admitted,  there  a  new  dominion  is 
erected,  and  a  new  system  of  laws  established. 

But  since  all  events  are  under  divine  direction,  is  it  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  great  Parent,  after  suffering  his  creatures  to  continue 
for  aijes  ignorant  of  his  true  character,  shoidd  at  length,  in  the  course 
of  his  Providence,  fix  upon  falsehood,  and  that  alone,  as  the  effectual 
method  of  making  himself  known  ;  and  that,  what  the  virtuous  exercise 
of  reason  in  the  best  and  -wisest  men  was  never  permitted  to  accom- 
plish, he  should  (-onfer  on  fraud  and  delusion  the  honour  of  effecting  ? 
It  ill  comports  with  the  majesty  of  truth,  or  the  character  of  God,  to 
belu'\e  that  he  has  built  the  noblest  superstructure  on  the  weakest 
foundation  ;  or  reduced  mankind  to  the  miserable  alternative  either  of 
remaining  destitute  of  the  knowledge  of  himself,  or  of  deriving  it  from 
the  polluted  source  of  impious  unposture.  AVe  therefore  feel  ourselves 
justified,  on  this  occasion,  in  adopting  the  triumphant  boast  of  the 
great  apostle :  Where  is  the  wise,  ichere  is  the  scribe,  where  is  the  dis- 
puter  of  this  world  1  Hath  not  God  made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this 
world  ?  For  after  that,  in  the  icisdom  of  God,  the  toorld  by  icisdom 
knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 
them,  that  believe. 


NOTE  TO  PAGE  38. 


The  fury  of  the  most  sanguinary  parties  was  especially  pointed  against  the  Chrtf- 
tian  priesthood,  <fc. — The  author  finds  he  has  given  great  offence  to  sonje  friends 
whom  he  highly  esteems,  by  applying  the  term  Christian  priesthood  to  the  popish 
clergy.     He  begs  leave  to  make  a  remark  or  two  by  way  of  apology. 

1.  It  is  admitted  by  all  candid  Protestants  that  salvation  is  attainable  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  church ;  but  he  should  be  glad  to  be  informed  what  part  of  the 
Christian  covenant  entitles  us  to  expect  the  salvation  of  those  (where  the  gospel 
is  promulgated)  who  are  not  even  a  branch  of  the  visible  church  of  Christ.  The 
papistical  tenets  are  either  fundamentally  erroneous,  on  which  supposition  it  is 
certain  no  papist  can  be  saved ;  or  their  errors  must  be  consistent  with  Christian 
faith,  and,  consequently,  cannot  be  a  valid  reason  for  excluding  those  who  main- 
tain them  from  being  a  part  (a  most  corrupt  part,  if  you  please,  but  still  a  part)  of 
the  Christian  church. 

2.  The  popish  clergy  were  persecuted  under  the  ehuracter  of  Christians,  not 
under  the  notion  of  heretics  or  schismatics.  They  who  were  the  subjects  of  per- 
secution were  certainly  the  best  judges  of  its  aim  and  direction ;  and  when  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris  and  others  endeavoured  to  screen  themselves  from  its  effects 
by  a  recantation,  what  did  they  recant  1  Was  it  popery  1  No ;  but  the  profession 
of  Christianity.  These  apostates,  doubtless,  meant  to  remove  the  ground  of 
offence,  which,  in  their  opinion,  was  the  ChrisVidn  profession.  If  the  soundest 
ecclesiastical  historians  have  not  refused  the  honours  of  martyrdom  to  such  as 
suffered  in  the  cause  of  truth  among  the  Gnostics,  it  ill  becomes  the  liberality  of 
the  present  age  to  contemplate  with  sullen  indifference,  or  malicious  joy,  the 
sufferings  of  conscientious  Catholics. 

3.  At  the  period  to  which  the  author  refers.  Christian  worship  of  every  kind  was 
prohibited  ;  while,  in  solemn  mockery  of  religion,  adoration  was  paid  to  a  strumpet, 
under  the  title  of  the  Goddess  of  Reason.  Is  it  necessary  to  prove  that  men  who 
were  thus  abandoned  must  be  hostile  to  true  religion  under  every  form  ]  Or,  if 
there  be  any  gradations  in  their  abhorrence,  to  that  most  which  is  the  most  pure 
and  perfect  1  Are  atheism  and  obscenity  more  congenial  to  the  Protestant  than 
to  the  popish  profession  1  To  have  incurred  the  hatred  of  the  ruling  party  ot 
France  at  thf.  season  alluded  to  is  an  honour  which  the  author  would  be  sorry  to 
resign,  as  the  exclusive  boast  of  the  church  of  Rome.  To  have  been  the  object 
of  the  partiality  of  such  bloody  and  inhuman  monsters  would  have  been  a  stain 
UDon  Protest wit,<4  which  the  virtue  of  ages  could  not  obliterate. 


REFLECTIONS   ON  WAR: 

A    SERMON, 

PREACHED    AT 

THE  BAPTIST  MEETING,  CAMBRIDGE, 

On  Tuesday,  June  1,  1802, 
being  the  04  y  of  thanksgiving  for  a  general  pkace 


PREFACE. 


The  writer  is  not  aware  that  the  sentiments  contained  in  this  dis- 
course require  apology;  though  he  is  convinced  he  needs  the  candour 
of  the  pubUc  with  respect  to  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  they  are 
exhibited.  If  it  be  deemed  an  impropriety  to  introduce  pohtical 
reflections  in  a  discourse  from  the  pulpit,  he  wishes  it  to  be  remem- 
bered that  these  are  of  a  general  nature,  and  such  as,  rising  out  of  the 
subject  and  the  occasion,  he  cannot  suppose  it  improper  for  a  Christian 
minister  to  impress.  With  party  politics  he  is  determined  to  have  as 
little  to  do  as  possible,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  professional  duties 
nothing  at  all.  Conscious  that  what  is  here  advanced  was  meant 
neither  to  flatter  nor  oflend  any  party,  he  is  not  very  solicitous  about 
those  misconstructions  or  misrepresentations  to  which  the  purest  in- 
tentions are  exposed.  It  will  probably  be  objected,  that  he  has  dwelt 
too  much  on  the  horrors  of  war  for  a  thanksgiving  sermon ;  in 
answer  to  which  he  begs  it  may  be  remembered,  that  as  the  pleasure 
of  -rest  is  relative  to  fatigue,  and  that  of  ease  to  pain,  so  the  blessing 
of  peace,  considered  merely  as  peace,  is  exactly  proportioned  to  the 
calamity  of  war.  As  this,  whenever  it  is  justifiable,  arises  out  of 
a  necessity,  not  a  desire  of  acquisition,  its  natural  and  proper  effbct 
is  merely  to  replace  a  nation  in  the  state  it  was  in  before  that  necessity 
was  incurred,  or,  in  other  words,  to  recover  what  was  lost  and  secure 
what  was  endangered.  The  writer  intended  to  add  something  more 
on  the  moral  effects  of  war  (a  subject  which  he  should  be  glad  to  see 
undertaken  by  some  superior  hand),  but  found  it  would  not  be  com- 
patible with  the  limits  he  determined  to  assign  himself.  The  sermon 
having  been  preached  for  the  benefit  of  a  benevolent  society,  instituted 
at  Cambridge,  will  sufficiently  account  for  the  observations  on  charity 
to  the  poor,  introduced  towards  the  close.  The  good  Avhich  has 
already  arisen  from  the  exertions  of  that  society  is  more  than  equal  to 
its  most  sanguine  expectations  ;  and  should  this  publication  contribute 
in  the  smallest  degree  to  the  formation  of  similar  ones  in  other  parts, 
the  author  will  think  himself  abundantly  compensated  for  the  little 
trouble  it  has  cost  him. 

Cambridge,  June  19, 1802. 


A   SERMON. 


Psalm  xlvi.  8,  9. 


■  Come,  behold  the  works  of  the  Lord,  what  desolations  he  hath  made  in 
the  earth.  He  maketh  wars  to  cease  unto  the  end  of  the  earth ;  he 
breaketh  the  bow,  and  cutteth  the  spear  in  sunder ;  he  burneth  the 
chariot  in  the  f  re. 

To  the  merciful  interposition  of  Providence  we  owe  it  that  our  native 
land  has  been  exempted  for  nearly  sixty  years  from  being  the  seat  of 
war ;  our  insular  situation  having  preserved  us  under  God  from  foreign 
invasion  ;  the  admirable  balance  of  our  constitution  from  internal  dis- 
cord. We  have  heard  indeed  of  the  ravages  of  armies,  and  the 
depopulation  of  countries,  but  they  have  merely  supplied  a  topic  of 
discourse,  and  have  occasioned  no  serious  alarm.  The  military  sys- 
tem, as  far  as  it  has  appeared  in  England,  has  been  seen  only  on  the 
side  of  its  gayety  and  pomp,  a  pleasing  show,  without  imparting  any  idea 
of  its  horrors  ;  and  the  rumour  of  battles  and  slaughter  conveyed 
from  afar  have  rather  amused  our  leisure  than  disturbed  our  repose. 
While  we  cannot  be  too  thankful  for  our  security,  it  has  placed  us 
under  a  disadvantage  in  one  respect,  which  is,  that  we  have  learned  to 
contemplate  war  with  too  much  indifference,  and  to  feel  for  the  unhappy 
countries  immediately  involved  in  it  too  little  compassion.  Had  we 
ever  experienced  its  calamities,  we  should  celebrate  the  restoration 
of  peace  on  this  occasion  with  warmer  emotions  than  there  is  room  to 
apprehend  are  at  present  felt.  To  awaken  those  sentiments  of  grati- 
tude which  we  are  this  day  assembled  to  express,  it  will  be  proper 
briefly  to  recall  to  your  attention  some  of  the  dreadful  effects  of  hos- 
tility." Real  war,  my  brethren,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  that 
painted  image  of  it  which  you  see  on  a  parade,  or  at  a  review :  it  is 
the  most  awful  scourge  that  Providence  employs  for  the  chastisement 
of  man.  It  is  the  garment  of  vengeance  with  which  the  Deity  arrays 
himself,  when  he  comes  forth  to  punish  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth. 
It  is  the  day  of  the  Lord,  cruel  both  with  wrath  and  fierce  anger.  It  is 
thus  described  by  the  sublimest  of  prophets  :  Howl  ye,  for  the  day  of 
the  Lord  is  at  hand ;  it  shall  come  as  a  destruction  from  the  Almighty  : 
therefore  shall  all  hands  be  faint,  and  every  man's  heart  shall  melt ; 
pangs  and  sorrou  s  shall  take  hold  on  them  ;  they  shall  be  in  pain  as  a 
woman  that  travadeih  ;  they  shall  be  amazed  one  at  another;  their  faces 


60  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

s/uill  be  asjlamrs.  Behold,  the  day  of  the  Lord  comcth,  cruel  both  tntk 
uvath  ititd  Jierce  anger,  to  lay  the  land  desolate ;  and  he  shall  destroy 
the  sinners  out  of  it.  For  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  the  constellations 
thereof,  shall  not  give  their  light ;  the  sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his 
going  forth,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light. 

AVar  nuiy  be  considered  in  two  views, — as  it  afl'ects  the  happiness, 
and  as  it  alVects  the  virtue  of  mankind  ;  as  a  source  of  misery,  and  as 
a  source  of  crimes. 

1.  Though  ive  must  all  die,  as  the  woman  of  Tekoa  said,  and  are 
as  water  spilt  upon  the  ground  which  cannot  be  gathered  up;  yet  it  is 
impossible  for  a  humane  mind  to  contemplate  the  rapid  extinction  of 
innumerable  lives  without  concern.  To  perish  in  a  moment,  to  be 
hurried  instantaneously,  without  preparation  and  without  warning,  into 
the  presence  of  the  Supreme  Judge,  has  something  in  it  inexpressibly 
awful  and  aflecting.  Since  the  commencement  of  tliose  hostilities 
which  are  now  so  happily  closed,  it  may  be  reasonably  conjectured 
that  not  less  than  half  a  million  of  our  fellow-creatures  have  fallen  a 
sacrifice.  Half  a  million  of  beings,  sharers  of  the  same  nature, 
warmed  with  the  same  hopes,  and  as  fondly  attached  to  life  as  our- 
selves, have  been  prematurely  swept  into  the  grave ;  each  of  whose 
deaths  has  pierced  the  heart  of  a  wife,  a  parent,  a  brother,  or  a  sister. 
How  many  of  these  scenes  of  complicated  distress  have  occurred  since 
the  commencement  of  hostilities  is  known  only  to  Omniscience :  that 
they  are  innumerable  cannot  admit  of  a  doubt.  In  some  parts  of 
Europe,  perhaps,  there  is  scarcely  a  family  exempt. 

Though  the  whole  race  of  man  is  doomed  to  dissolution,  and  we  are 
all  hastening  to  our  long  home ;  yet  at  each  successive  moment,  life 
and  death  seem  to  divide  between  them  the  dominion  of  mankind,  and 
life  to  have  the  larger  share.  It  is  otherwise  in  war :  death  reigns 
there  without  a  rival,  and  without  control.  War  is  the  work,  the  ele- 
ment, or  rather  the  sport  and  triumph  of  death,  who  glories,  not  only 
in  the  extent  of  his  conquest,  but  in  the  richness  of  his  spoil.  In  the 
other  methods  of  attack,  in  the  other  forms  which  death  assumes,  the 
feeble  and  the  aged,  who  at  the  best  can  live  but  a  short  time,  are 
usually  the  victims ;  here  it  is  the  vigorous  and  the  strong.  It  is 
remarked  by  an  ancient  historian,  that  in  peace  children  bury  their 
parents,  in  war  parents  bury  their  children  :*  nor  is  the  difference 
small.  Children  lament  their  parents,  sincerely  indeed,  but  with  that 
moderate  and  tranquil  sorrow  which  it  is  natural  for  those  to  feel  who 
are  conscious  of  retaining  many  tender  ties,  many  animating  prospects. 
Parents  mourn  for  their  children  with  the  bitterness  of  despair  ;  the 
aged  parent,  the  widowed  mother,  loses,  when  she  is  deprived  of  her 
children,  every  thing  but  the  capacity  of  suffering ;  her  heart,  withered 
and  desolate,  admits  no  other  object,  cherishes  no  other  hope.  It  is 
Rachel  weeping  for  her  children,  and  refusing  to  be  comforted,  because 
they  are  not. 

*  In  the  former  editions  this  sentiment  was  imputed  to  Homer:  the  truth,  however,  is,  as  Mr. 
Hall  was  afterward  aware,  that  it  was  due  to  Herodotus,  and  occurs  in  his  Ctw.  'Ex  /liv  yap  rfj 
{/up^vrj)  01  Tidlici  Toi;  Traripai  ddTtrovai'  iv  Si  Tot  {jro\iu<fi)  ol  TraTtpti  Tovs  valSas     Cap.  87. — Ed 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  61 

But,  to  confine  our  attention  to  the  number  of  the  slain  would  give 
us  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  ravages  of  the  sword.  The  lot  of 
tliose  wlio  perish  instantaneously  may  be  considered,  apart  from 
religious  prospects,  as  comparatively  happy,  since  they  are  exempt 
from  those  lingering  diseases  and  slow  torments  to  which  others  are 
liable.  We  cannot  see  an  individual  expire,  though  a  stranger  or  an 
enemy,  without  being  sensibly  moved,  and  prompted  by  compassion  to 
lend  him  every  assistance  in  our  power.  Every  trace  of  resentment 
vanishes  in  a  moment :  every  other  emotion  gives  way  to  pity  and 
terror.  In  these  last  extremities  we  remember  nothing  but  the  respect 
and  tenderness  due  to  our  common  nature.  What  a  scene  then  must 
a  field  of  battle  present,  where  thousands  are  left  without  assistance 
and  without  pity,  with  their  wounds  exposed  to  the  piercing  air,  while 
the  blood,  freezing  as  it  flows,  binds  them  to  the  earth,  amid  the  tramp- 
ling of  horses  and  the  insults  of  an  enraged  foe  !  If  they  are  spared 
by  the  humanity  of  the  enemy  and  carried  from  the  field,  it  is  but  a 
prolongation  of  torment.  Conveyed  in  uneasy  vehicles,  often  to  a 
remote  distance,  through  roads  almost  impassable,  they  are  lodged  in 
ill-prepared  receptacles  for  the  wounded  and  the  sick,  where  the  variety 
of  distress  baffles  all  the  efibrts  of  humanity  and  skill,  and  renders  it 
impossible  to  give  to  each  the  attention  he  demands.  Far  from  their 
native  home,  no  tender  assiduities  of  friendship,  no  well-known  voice, 
no  wife,  or  mother,  or  sister  is  near  to  sooth  their  sorrows,  relieve  their 
thirst,  or  close  their  eyes  in  death.  Unhappy  man  !  and  must  you  be 
swept  into  the  grave  unnoticed  and  unnumbered,  and  no  friendly  tear 
be  shed  for  your  sufferings  or  mingled  with  your  dust  ! 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  as  a  very  small  proportion  of  a 
military  life  is  spent  in  actual  combat,  so  it  is  a  very  small  part  of  its 
miseries  which  must  be  ascribed  to  this  source.  More  are  consumed 
by.  the  rust  of  inactivity  than  by  the  edge  of  the  sword;  confined  to  a 
scanty  or  unwholesome  diet,  exposed  in  sickly  climates,  harassed  with 
tiresome  marches  and  perpetual  alarms,  their  life  is  a  continual  scene 
of  hardships  and  dangers.  They  grow  familiar  with  hunger,  cold,  and 
watchfulness.  Crowded  into  hospitals  and  prisons,  contagion  spreads 
among  their  ranks,  till  the  ravages  of  disease  exceed  those  of  the 
enemy. 

We  have  hitherto  only  adverted  to  the  sufferings  of  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  profession  of  arms,  without  taking  into  our  account  the 
situation  of  the  countries  which  are  the  scene  of  hostilities.  How 
dreadful  to  hold  every  thing  at  the  mercy  of  an  enemy,  and  to  receive 
life  itself  as  a  boon  dependent  on  the  sword.  How  boundless  the  fears 
which  such  a  situation  must  inspire,  where  the  issues  of  life  and  death 
are  determined  by  no  known  laws,  principles,  or  customs,  and  no  con- 
jecture can  be  formed  of  our  destiny,  except  as  far  as  it  is  dimly 
deciphered  in  characters  of  blood,  in  the  dictates  of  revenge,  and  the 
caprices  of  power.  Conceive  but  for  a  moment  the  consternation 
which  the  approach  of  an  invading  army  would  impress  on  the  peace- 
ful villages  in  this  neighbourhood.  When  you  have  placed  yourselves 
for  an  instant  in  that  situation,  you  will  learn  to  sympathize  with  those 


62  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

unhappv  co\iiitries  wliii-h  liave  sustained  the  ravages  of  arms  But 
how  is  it  possible  to  give  you  an  idea  of  these  horrors?  Heie  you 
behold  rich  harvests,  the  bounty  of  heaven  and  the  reward  of  industry, 
consumed  in  a  moment  or  trampled  under  foot,  while  famine  and  pesti- 
lence follow  the  steps  of  desolation.  There  the  cottages  of  peasants 
given  up  to  the  flames,  mothers  expiring  through  fear,  not  for  them- 
selves but  their  infants ;  the  inhabitants  flying  with  their  helpless 
babes  in  all  directions,  miserable  fugitives  on  their  native  soil !  In 
another  part  you  witness  opulent  cities  taken  by  storm ;  the  streets, 
where  no  sounds  were  heard  but  those  of  peaceful  industry,  filled  on 
3  sudden  with  slaughter  and  blood,  resounding  with  the  cries  of  the 
pursuing  and  the  pursued ;  the  palaces  of  nobles  demolished,  the 
houses  of  the  rich  pillaged,  the  chastity  of  virgins  and  of  matrons 
violated,  and  every  age,  sex,  and  rank  mingled  in  promiscuous  mas- 
sacre and  ruin. 

If  we  consider  the  maxims  of  war  which  prevailed  in  the  ancient 
world,  and  which  still  prevail  in  many  barbarous  nations,  we  perceive 
that  those  who  survived  the  fury  of  battle  and  the  insolence  of  victory 
were  only  reserved  for  more  durable  calamities ;  swept  into  hopeless 
captivity,  exposed  in  markets,  or  plunged  in  mines,  with  the  melan- 
choly distinction  bestowed  on  princes  and  warriors,  after  appearing  in 
the  triumphal  procession  of  the  conqueror,  of  being  conducted  to  in- 
stant death.  The  contemplation  of  such  scenes  as  these  forces  on  us 
this  awful  reflection,  that  neither  the  fury  of  wild  beasts,  the  concus- 
sions of  the  earth,  nor  the  violence  of  tempests  are  to  be  compared  to 
the  ravages  of  arms  ;  and  that  nature  in  her  utmost  extent,  or,  more 
properly,  divine  justice  in  its  utmost  severity,  has  supplied  no  enemy 
to  man  so  terrible  as  man. 

Still,  however,  it  would  be  happy  for  mankind  if  the  effects  of 
national  hostility  terminated  here  ;  but  the  fact  is,  that  they  who  are 
farthest  removed  from  its  immediate  desolations  share  largely  in  the 
calamitv.  They  are  drained  of  the  most  precious  part  of  their  popu- 
lation, their  youth,  to  repair  the  waste  made  by  the  sword.  The}'  are 
drained  of  their  wealth  by  the  prodigious  expense  incurred  in  the 
equipment  of  fleets  and  the  subsistence  of  armies  in  remote  parts. 
The  accumulation  of  debt  and  taxes  diminishes  the  public  strength, 
and  depresses  private  industry.  An  augmentation  in  the  price  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  inconvenient  to  all  classes,  falls  with  peculiar 
weight  on  the  labouring  poor,  who  must  carry  their  industry  to  market 
everj'  day,  and  therefore  cannot  wait  for  that  advance  of  price  which 
gradually  attaches  to  every  other  article.  Of  all  people  the  poor  are 
on  this  account  the  greatest  sufferers  by  war,  and  have  the  most  rea- 
son to  rejoice  in  the  restoration  of  peace.  As  it  is  the  furthest  from 
my  purpose  to  awaken  unpleasing  .reflections,  or  to  taint  the  pure 
satisfaction  of  this  day  by  the  smallest  infusion  of  political  acrimony, 
it  will  not  be  expected  I  should  apply  these  remarks  to  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  this  country,  though  it  would  be  unpardonable  in  us 
to  forget  (for  to  forget  our  dangers  is  to  forget  our  mercies)  how  nearly 
we  have  been  reduced  to  '"lui^ne.  orincipally,  it  is  true,  through   a 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  63 

failure  in  the  crops,  but  greatly  aggravated,  no  doubt,  in  its  pressure, 
by  our  being  engaged  in  a  war  of  unexampled  expenditure  and  extent. 
In  commercial  states  (of  which  Europe  principally  consists),  what 
ever  interrupts  their  intercourse  is  a  fatal  blow  to  national  prosperity. 
Such  states  having  a  mutual  dependence  on  each  other,  the  effects  of 
their  hostility  extend  far  beyond  the  parties  engaged  in  the  contest. 
If  there  be  a  country  highly  commercial  which  has  a  decided  supe- 
riority in  wealth  and  industry,  together  with  a  fleet  which  enables  it 
to  protect  its  trade,  the  commerce  of  such  a  country  may  survive  the 
shock,  but  it  is  at  the  expense  of  the  commerce  of  all  other  nations ; 
a  painful  reflection  to  a  generous  mind.  Even  there  the  usual  chan- 
nels of  trade  being  closed,  it  is  some  time  before  it  can  force  a  new 
passage  for  itself;  previous  to  which  an  almost  total  stagnation  takes 
jDlace,  by  which  multitudes  are  impoverished,  and  thousands  of  the 
industrious  poor,  being  thrown  out  of  employment,  are  plunged  into 
wretchedness  and  beggary.  Who  can  calculate  the  number  of  indus- 
trious families  in  diflerent  parts  of  the  world,  to  say  nothing  of  our 
own  country,  who  have  been  reduced  to  poverty  from  this  cause  since 
the  peace  of  Europe  was  interrupted  ? 

The  plague  of  a  widely  extended  war  possesses,  in  fact,  a  sort  of 
omnipresence,  by  which  it  makes  itself  every  where  felt ;  for  while  it 
gives  up  myriads  to  slaughter  in  one  part  of  the  globe,  it  is  t^sily 
employed  in  scattering  over  countries  exempt  from  its  immediate 
desolations  the  seeds  of  famme,  pestilence,  and  death. 

If  statesmen,  if  Christian  statesmen  at  least,  had  a  proper  feeling 
on  this  subject,  and  would  open  their  hearts  to  the  reflections  which 
such  scenes  must  inspire,  instead  of  rushing  eagerly  to  arms  from  the 
thirst  of  conquest  or  the  thirst  of  gain,  would  they  not  hesitate  long, 
would  they  not  try  every  expedient,  every  lenient  art  consistent  with 
national  honour,  before  they  ventured  on  this  desperate  remedy,  or 
rather,  before  they  plunged  into  this,  gulf  of  horror? 

It  is  time  to  proceed  to  another  view  of  the  subject,  which  is,  the 
influence  of  national  warfare  on  the  morals  of  mankind :  a  topic  on 
which  I  must  be  very  brief,  but  which  it  would  be  wrong  to  omit,  as 
it  supplies  an  additional  reason  to  every  good  man  for  the  love  of 
peace. 

The  contests  of  nations  are  both  the  ofl*spring  and  the  parent  of 
injustice.  The  word  of  God  ascribes  the  existence  of  war  to  the  dis- 
orderly passions  of  men.  Whe7ice  come  wars  and  jigliting  among  you  ? 
saith  the  apostle  James  ;  come  they  not  from  your  lusts  that  icar  in 
your  members  ?  It  is  certain  two  nations  cannot  engage  in  hostilities 
but  one  party  must  be  guilty  of  injustice ;  and  if  the  magnitude  of 
crimes  is  to  be  estimated  by  a  regard  to  their  consequences,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  conceive  an  action  of  equal  guilt  with  the  wanton  violation  of 
peace.  Though  something  must  generally  be  allowed  for  the  com- 
plexness  and  intricacy  of  national  claims,  and  the  conseqvient  liability 
to  deception,  yet  where  the  guilt  of  an  unjust  war  is  clear  and  mani- 
fest, it  sinks  every  other  crime  into  insignificance.  If  the  existence 
oi  war  always  implies  injustice  in  one  at  least  of  the  parties  concerned. 


64  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

it  is  also  tlie  fruitful  paroiu  of  crimes.  It  reverses,  with  respect  to  its 
objects,  :ill  tlic  rules  of  inonility.  It  is  nothing  less  ihan  a  temporary 
repeal  of  the  principles  of  virtue.  It  is  a  system  out  of  which  almost 
all  the  virtues  are  excluded,  and  in  which  nearly  all  the  vices  are 
incorporated.  Whatever  renders  human  nature  amiable  or  respectable, 
vhatcver  engages  love  or  conlidence,  is  sacrificed  at  its  shrine.  In 
instructing  us  to  consider  a  portion  of  our  fellow-creatures  as  the 
prpper  objects  of  enmity,  it  removes,  as  far  as  they  are  concerned,  the 
basis  of  all  society,  of  all  civilization  and  virtue  ;  for  the  basis  of  these 
is  the  good-will  due  to  every  individual  of  the  species,  as  being  a  part 
of  ourselves.  From  this  principle  all  the  rules  of  social  virtue 
emanate.  Justice  and  humanity,  in  their  utmost  extent,  are  nothing 
more  than  the  practical  application  of  this  great  law.  The  sword,  and 
that  alone,  cuts  asunder  the  bond  of  consanguinity  which  unites  man 
to  man.  As  it  immediately  aims  at  the  extinction  of  life,  it  is  next  to 
impossible,  upon  the  principle  that  every  thing  may  be  lawfully  done 
to  him  whom  we  have  a  right  to  kill,  to  set  limits  to  military  license ; 
for  when  men  pass  from  the  dominion  of  reason  to  that  of  force,  what- 
ever restraints  are  attempted  to  be  laid  on  the  passions  will  be  feeble 
and  fluctuating.  Though  we  must  applaud,  therefore,  the  attempts  of 
the  humane  Grotius  to  blend  maxims  of  humanity  with  military  opera- 
tions, it  is  to  be  feared  they  will  never  coalesce,  since  the  former 
imply  the  subsistence  of  those  ties  which  the  latter  suppose  to  be  dis- 
solved. Hence  the  morality  of  peaceful  times  is  directly  opposite  to 
the  maxims  of  war.  The  fundamental  rule  of  the  first  is  to  do  good ; 
of  the  latter  to  inflict  injuries.  The  former  commands  us  to  succour 
the  oppressed  ;  the  latter  to  overwhelm  the  defenceless.  The  former 
teaches  men  to  love  their  enemies ;  the  latter  to  make  themselves 
terrible  even  to  strangers.  The  rules  of  morality  will  not  suffer  us 
to  promote  the  dearest  interest  by  falsehood  ;  the  maxims  of  war 
applaud  it  when  employed  in  the  destruction  of  others.  That  a  fami- 
liarity with  such  maxims  must  tend  to  harden  the  heart,  as  well  as  to 
pervert  the  moral  sentiments,  is  too  obvious  to  need  illustration.  The 
natural  consequence  of  their  prevalence  is  an  unfeeling  and  unprinci- 
pled ambition,  with  an  idolatry  of  talents,  and  a  contempt  of  virtue ; 
whence  the  esteem  of  mankind  is  turned  from  the  humble,  the  benefi- 
cent, and  the  good,  to  men  who  are  qualified  by  a  genius  fertile  in 
expedients,  a  courage  that  is  never  appalled,  and  a  heart  that  never 
pities,  to  become  the  destroyers  of  the  earth.  While  the  philanthro- 
pist is  devising  means  to  mitigate  the  evils  and  augment  the  happiness 
of  the  world,  a  fellow-\vorker  together  Avith  God,  in  exploring  and 
giving  effect  to  the  benevolent  tendencies  of  nature,  the  warrior  is 
revolving,  in  the  gloomy  recesses  of  his  capacious  mind,  plans  of 
future  devastation  and  ruin.  Prisons  crowded  Avith  captives,  cities 
emptied  of  their  inhabitants,  fields  desolate  and  waste,  are  among  liis 
proudest  trophies.  The  fabric  of  his  fame  is  cemented  with  tears  and 
blood ;  and  if  his  name  is  wafted  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  it  is  in  the 
shrill  cry  of  suffering  humanity ;  in  the  curses  and  imprecations  of 
those  whom  his  sword  has  reduced  to  despair. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  fi5 

Let  me  not  be  understood  to  involve  in  this  guilt  every  man  who 
engages  in  war,  or  to  assert  that  war  itself  is  in  all  cases  unlawful. 
The  injustice  of  mankind,  hitherto  incurable,  renders  it  in  some  in- 
stances necessary,  and  therefore  lawful ;  but,  unquestionably,  these 
instances  are  much  more  rare  than  the  practice  of  the  world  and  its 
loose  casuistry  would  lead  us  to  suppose. 

Detesting  war,  considered  as  a  trade  or  profession,  and  conceiving 
conquerors  to  be  the  enemies  of  their  species,  it  appears*  to  me  that 
nothing  is  more  suitable  to  the  office  of  a  Christian  minister  than  an 
attempt,  however  feeble,  to  take  off"  the  colours  from  false  greatness, 
and  to  show  the  deformity  which  its  delusive  splendour  too  often  con- 
ceals. This  is  perhaps  one  of  the  best  services  religion  can  do  to 
society.  Nor  is  there  any  more  necessary.  For  dominion  affording 
a  "plain  and  palpable  distinction,  and  every  man  feeling  the  efl^ects  of 
power,  however  incompetent  he  may  be  to  judge  of  wisdom  and  good- 
ness, the  character  of  a  hero,  there  is  reason  to  fear,  will  always  be 
too  dazzling.  The  sense  of  his  injustice  will  be  too  often  lost  in  the 
admiration  of  his  success. 

In  contemplating  the  influence  of  war  on  public  morals,  it  would  be 
unpardonable  not  to  remark  the  effects  it  never  fails  to  produce  in 
those  parts  of  the  world  which  are  its  immediate  seat.  The  injury 
which  the  morals  of  a  people  sustain  from  an  invading  army  is  pro- 
digious. The  agitation  and  suspense  universally  prevalent  are  incom- 
patible with  every  thing  which  requires  calm  thought  or  serious 
reflection.  In  such  a  situation  is  it  any  wonder  the  duties  of  piety 
fall  into  neglect,  the  sanctuary  of  God  is  forsaken,  and  the  gates  of 
Zion  mourn  and  are  desolate  ?  Famfliarized  to  the  sight  of  rapine 
and  slaughter,  the  people  must  acquire  a  hard  and  unfeeling  character. 
The  precarious  tenure  by  which  every  thing  is  held  during  the  absence 
of  la.ws  must  impair  confidence ;  the  sudden  revolutions  of  fortune 
must  be  infinitely  favourable  to  fraud  -and  injustice.  He  who  reflects 
on  these  consequences  will  not  think  it  too  much  to  aflSrm,  that  the 
injury  th,e  virtue  of  a  people  sustains  from  invasion  is  greater  than 
that'  which  affects  their  property  or  their  lives.  He  will  perceive  that 
by  such  a  calamity  the  seeds  of  order,  virtue,  and  piety,  which  it  is 
the  first  care  of  education  to  implant  and  mature,  are  swept  away  as 
by  a  hurricane. 

Though  tlie  sketch  which  I  have  attempted  to  give  of  the  miseries 
which  ensue  when  nation  lifts  up  arms  against  nation  is  faint  and 
imperfect,  it  is  yet  sufficient  to  imprint  on  our  minds  a  salutary  horror 
of  such  scenes,  and  a  gratitude,  warm,  I  trust,  and  sincere,  to  that 
gracious  Providence  which  has  brought  them  to  a  close. 

To  acknowledge  the  hand  of  God  is  a  duty  indeed  at  all  times  ;  but 
there  are  seasons  when  it  is  made  so  bare,  that  it  is  next  to  impos- 
sible, and  therefore  signally  criminal,  to  overlook  it.  It  is  almost 
unnecessary  to  add  that  the  present  is  one  of  those  seasons.     If  ever 

*  "  Non  est  inter  artificia  bellum,  imo  res  est  tarn  horrenda,  ut  earn  nisi  summa  r/ecessitas,  ant 
vera  caritas.  honestam  efficere  queat.  Augustino  judice,  niilitare  non  est  I'elictum,  sed  propter 
praedam  militare  peccatum  cat."— Grot,  de  Jure  Bell.  lib.  ii.  c.  25. 

Vol.  I.— E 


66  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

we  are  oxpocted  to  he  still  and  know  that  he  is  God,  it  is  on  tlie  present 
occasion,  after  a  crisis  so  iniexanipled  in  the  annals  of  tlie  world ; 
during  which,  scenes  have  been  disclosed  and  events  have  arisen  so 
niucli  more  astonishing  than  any  that  history  had  recorded  or  romance 
had  feigned,  that  we  are  compelled  to  lose  sight  of  human  agency,  and 
to  behold  the  Deity  acting,  as  it  were,  apart  and  alone. 

Tile  contest  in  which  we  have  been  lately  engaged  is  distinguished 
from  ail  others  in  modern  times  by  the  number  of  nations  it  embraced, 
and  the  animosity  widi  which  it  was  conducted.  Making  its  first 
appearance  in  the  centre  of  the  civilized  world,  like  a  fire  kindled  in 
the  thickest  part  of  a  forest,  it  spread  during  ten  years  on  every  side ; 
it  burnt  in  all  directions,  gathering  fresh  fury  in  its  progress,  till  it 
inwrapped  the  whole  of  Europe  in  its  flames ;  an  awful  spectacle,  not 
only  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  but  in  the  eyes  of  superior  beings  ! 
What  place  can  we  point  out  to  which  its  effects  have  not  extended? 
Where  is  the  nation,  the  family,  the  individual  I  might  almost  say, 
who  has  not  felt  its  influence  ?  It  is  not,  my  brethren,  the  termination 
of  an  ordinary  contest  which  we  are  asseinbled  this  day  to  commemo- 
rate ;  it  is  an  event  which  includes  for  the  present  (may  it  long  per- 
petuate) the  tranquillity  of  Europe  and  the  pacification  of  the  world. 
We  are  met  to  express  our  devout  gratitude  to  God  for  putting  a  period 
to  a  war  the  most  eventful  perhaps  that  has  been  witnessed  for  a 
thousand  years,  a  war  which  has  transformed  the  face  of  Europe, 
removed  the  landmarks  of  nations  and  limits  of  empire. 

The  spirit  of  animosity  with  which  it  has  been  conducted  is  another 
circumstance  which  has  eminently  distinguished  the  recent  contest. 
As  it  would  be  highly  improper  to  enter  on  this  occasion  (were  my 
abilities  equal  to  the  task)  into  a  discussion  of  those  principles  which 
have  divided,  and  probably  will  long  divide,  the  sentiments  of  men,  it 
may  be  sufiicient  to  observe  in  general,  that  what  principally  con- 
tributed to  make  the  contest  so  peculiarly  violent  w'as  a  discordancy 
between  the  opinions  and  the  institutions  of  society.  A  daring  spirit 
of  speculation,  untempered,  alas  !  by  humility  and  devotion,  has  been 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  the  present  times.  While  it  confined 
itself  to  the  exposure  of  the  corruptions  of  religion  and  the  abuses  of 
power,  it  met  with  some  degree  of  countenance  from  the  wise  and 
good  in  all  countries,  w^ho  were  ready  to  hope  it  was  the  instrument 
destined  by  Providence  to  meliorate  the  condition  of  mankind.  How 
great  was  their  disappointment  when  they  perceived  that  pretensions* 
to  philanthropy  were,  with  many,  only  a  mask  assumed  for  the  more 
successful  propagation  of  impiety  and  anarchy ! 

From  the  prevalence  of  this  spirit,  however,  a  schism  was  gradually 
formed  between  the  adherents  of  those  Avho,  styling  themselves  phi- 
losophers, were  intent  on  some  great  change  which  they  were  little 
careful  to  explain,  and  the  patrons  of  the  ancient  order  of  things.  The 
pretensions  of  each  were  plausible.  The  accumulation  of  abuses  and 
the  corruptions  of  religion  furnished  weapons  to  the  philosophers ;  the 
dangerous  tendency  of  the  speculations  of  these  latter,  together  with 
their  impiety,  which  became  every  day  more  manifest,  gave  an  advan- 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  67 

tdge  not  less  considerable  to  their  opponents,  which  they  did  not  fail 
to  improve.  In  this  situation  the  breach  grew  wider  and  wider ; 
nothing  temperate  or  conciliating  was  admitted.  Every  attempt  at 
purifying  religion  without  impairing  its  authority,  and  at  improving  the 
condition  of  society  without  shaking  its  foundation,  was  crushed  and 
annihilated  in  the  encounter  of  two  hostile  forces.  By  this  means  the 
way  was  prepared,  first  for  internal  dissension,  and  then  for  wars  the 
most  bloody  and  extensive. 

The  war  in  which  so  great  a  part  of  the  world  was  lately  engaged 
has  been  frequently  styled  a  war  of  principle.  This  was  indeed  its 
exact  character ;  and  it  was  this  which  rendered  it  so  violent  and 
obstinate.  Disputes  which  are  founded  merely  on  passion  or  on 
interest  are  comparatively  of  short  duration.  They  are,  at  least,  not 
calculated  to  spread.  However  they  may  inflame  the  principles,  thev 
are  but  little  adapted  to  gain  partisans. 

To  render  them  durable  there  must  be  an  infusion  of  speculative 
opinions.  Foi*,  corrupt  as  men  are,  they  are  yet  so  much  the  crea- 
tures of  reflection,  and  so  strongly  addicted  to  sentiments  of  right  and 
wrong,  that  their  attachment  to  a  public  cause  can  rarely  be  secured, 
or  their  animosity  be  kept  alive,  unless  their  understandings  are 
engaged  by  some  appearances  of  truth  and  rectitude.  Hence  specu- 
lative differences  in  religion  and  politics  become  rallying  points  to  tlie 
passions.  Whoever  reflects  on  the  civil  wars  between  the  Guelphs 
and  the  Ghibbelines,  or  the  adherents  of  the  pope  and  the  emperor, 
whicli  distracted  Italy  and  Germany  in  the  middle  ages,  or  those  be- 
tween the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  will 
find  abundant  confirmation  of  this  remark.  This  is  well  understood  by 
the  leaders  of  parties, in  all  nations;  who,  though  they  frequently  aim 
at  nothing  more  than  the  attainment  of  power,  yet  always  contrive  to 
cement  the  attachment  of  their  followers,  by  mixing  some  speculative 
opinion  with  their  contests,  well  knowing  that  what  depends  for  sup- 
port merely  on  the  irascible  passions  soon  subsides.  Then  does  party 
animosity  reach  its  height,  when,  to  an  interference  of  interests  sufti- 
cient  to  kindle  resentment,  is  superadded  a  persuasion  of  rectitude,  a 
conviction  of  truth,  an  apprehension  in  each  party  that  they  are  con- 
tending for  principles  of  the  last  importance,  on  the  success  of  which 
the  happiness  of  millions  depends.  Under  these  impressions  men 
are  apt  to  indulge  the  most  selfish  and  vindictive  passions  without 
suspicion  or  control.  The  understanding  indeed,  in  that  state,  instead 
of  controlling  the  passions,  often  serves  only  to  give  steadiness  to 
their  impulse,  to  ratify  and  consecrate,  so  to  speak,  all  their  movements. 

When  we  apply  these  remarks  to  the  late  contest,  we  can  be  at  no 
loss  to  discover  the  source  of  the  unparalleled  animosity  which  inflamed 
it.  Never  before  were  so  many  opposing  interests,  passions,  and  prin- 
ciples committed  to  such  a  decision.  On  one  side  an  attachment  to 
the  ancient  order  of  things,  on  the  other  a  passionate  desire  of  change  ; 
a  wish  in  some  to  perpetuate,  in  others  to  destroy  every  thing ;  every 
abuse  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the  former,  every  foundation  attempted  to 
he  demolished  by  the  latter  •  a  jealousy  of  power  shrinking  from  the 

E  2 


68  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

sliixlitost  innovation,  pretensions  to  freeilom  pnslied  tc  madness  and 
anarehv  ;  superstition  in  all  its  dotaoc,  impiety  in  all  its  fury;  what- 
ever, in  short,  eould  he  found  most  diseordant  in  the  principles  or 
violent  in  the  passions  of  men  were  the  fearful  ingredients  which  the 
hand  of  divine  justice  selected  to  mingle  in  this  furnace  of  wrath. 
Can  we  any  longer  wonder  at  the  desolations  it  made  in  the  earth  ? 
Great  as  they  are,  they  are  no  more  than  might  be  expected  from  the 
peculiar  nature  of  the  warfare.  A\  hen  we  take  this  into  our  considera- 
tion, we  are  no  longer  surprised  to  find  the  variety  of  its  battles  burdens 
the  memory,  that  the  imagination  is  perfectly  fatigued  in  travelling 
over  its  scenes  of  slaughter,  and  that  falling,  like  the  mystic  star  in 
the  Apocalypse,  upon  the  streams  and  the  rivers,  it  turned  the  third 
part  of  their  tratcrs  into  blood* 

Whetlier  the  foundations  of  lasting  tranquillity  are  laid,  or  a  respite 
oidy  aflbrded  to  tlie  nations  of  the  earth,  in  the  present  auspicious 
event,  is  a  question  the  discussion  of  which  would  only  damp  the 
satisAiction  of  this  day.  Whatever  may  be  the  future  determinations 
of  Providence,  let  no  gloomy  foreboding  depress  our  gratitude  for  its 
gracious  interposition  in  our  favour.  While  we  feel  sentiments'  of 
respectful  acknowledgment  to  the  human  instruments  employed,  let  us 
remember  they  are  but  instruments,  and  that  it  is  our  duty  to  look 
through  them  to  Him  who  is  the  author  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  pleasing  part  of  our  subject,  which  invites 
us  to  contemplate  the  reasons  for  gratitude  and  joy  suggested  by  the 
restoration  of  peace. 

Permit  me  to  express  my  hope,  that  along  with  peace  the  spirit  of 
peace  will  return.  How  can  we  better  imitate  our  heavenly  Father, 
than,  when  he  is  pleased  to  compose  the  animosities  of  nations,  to 
open  our  hearts  to  every  milder  influence  1  Let  us  hope  more  mutual 
forbearance,  a  more  candid  construction  of  each  other's  vieAvs  and 
sentiments  will  prevail.  No  end  can  now  be  answered  by  the  revival 
of  party  disputes.  The  speculations  which  gave  occasion  to  them 
have  been  yielded  to  the  arbitration  of  the  sword,  and  neither  the  for- 
tune of  war  nor  the  present  condition  of  Europe  is  such  as  affords 
to  any  party  room  for  high  exultation.  Our  public  and  private  affec- 
tions are  no  longer  at  variance.  That  benevolence  which  embraces 
the  world  is  now  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  tenderness  that  endears 
our  country.  Burymg  in  oblivion,  therefore,  all  national  antipathies, 
together  with  those  cruel  jealousies  and  suspicions  which  have  too 
much  marred  the  pleasures  of  mutual  intercourse,  let  our  hearts  cor- 
respond to  the  blessing  we  celebrate,  and  keep  pace  as  far  as  possible 
with  the  movements  of  divine  beneficence. 

A  most  important  benefit  has  already  followed  the  return  of  peace,  a 
reduction  of  the  price  of  bread  ;  and  though  other  necessaries  of  life 
have  not  fallen  in  proportion,  this  is  a  circumstance  which  can  hardly 

*  The  author  has  inserted  some  reflections  here  which  were  not  included  in  the  discourse  as 
delivered  from  the  pulpit.  He  wished  to  explain  himself  somewhat  more  fully  on  certain  points,  on 
which  his  seuliments  in  a  former  publication  have  been  much  misunderstood  or  misrepresented 
But  this  Is  a  circumstance  vfith  which,  as  it  has  not  troubled  himself,  he  wishes  not  any  further  to 
trouble  the  reader 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  69 

fail  to  follow.  We  trust  the  circumstances  of  the  poor  and  the  labour- 
ing classes  will  be  much  improved,  and  that  there  will  shortly  be  no 
complaining  in  our  streets.  Every  cottager,  we  hope,  will  feel  that 
there  is  peace  ;  commerce  return  to  its  ancient  channels,  the  public 
burdf.ns  be  lightened,  the  national  debt  diminished,  and  harmony  and 
plenty  again  gladden  the  land. 

In  enumerating  the  motives  to  national  gratitude  which  the  retro- 
spect of  the  past  supplies,  it  would  be  unpardonable  not  to  reckon 
among  the  most  cogent,  the  preservation  of  our  excellent  constitution ; 
nor  can  I  doubt  of  the  concurrence  of  all  who  hear  me  when  I  add,  it 
is  a  pleasing  reflection,  that  at  a  period  when  the  spirit  of  giddiness 
and  revolt  has  been  so  prevalent,  we  have  preferred  the  blessings  of 
order  to  a  phantom  of  liberty,  and  have  not  been  so  mad  as  to  wade 
through  the  horrors  of  a  revolution  to  make  way  for  a  military  despot. 
If  the  constitution  has  sustained  serious  injury,  either  during  the  war  or 
at  any  preceding  period,  as  there  is  great  room  to  apprehend,  we  shall 
have  leisure  (may  we  but  have  virtue !)  to  apply  temperate  and 
effectual  reforms.  In  the  mean  time,  let  us  love  it  sincerely,  cherish 
it  tenderly,  and  secure  it  as  far  as  possible  on  all  sides,  watching  with 
impartial  solicitude  against  every  diing  that  may  impair  its  spirit  or 
endanger  its  form. 

But,  above  all,  let  us  cherish  the  spirit  of  religion.  Wlieri  we  wish 
to  open  our  hearts  on  this  subject,  and  to  represent  to  you  the  vanity, 
the  nothingness  of  every  thing  else  in  comparison,  we  feel  ourselves 
checked  by  an  apprehension  you  will  consider  it  merely  as  professional 
language,  and  consequently  entitled  to  little  regard.  If,  however,  you 
will  only  turn  your  eyes  to  the  awful  scenes  before  you,  our  voice  may 
be  spared.  They  will  speak  loud  enough  of  themselves.  On  this 
subject  they  will  furnish  the  most  awful  and  momentous  instruction. 
Frqm  them  you  will  learn,  that  the  safety  of  nations  is  not  to  be  sought 
in  arts  or  in  arms ;  that  science  may  flourish  amid  the  decay  of  humanity ; 
that  the  utmost  barbarity  may  be  blended  with  the  utmost  refinement ; 
that  a  passion  for  speculation,  unrestrained  by  the  fear  of  God,  and  a 
deep  sense  of  human  imperfection,  merely  hardens  the  heart ;  and 
that  as  religion,  in  short,  is  the  great  tamer  of  the  breast,  the  source  of 
tranquillity  and  order,  so  the  crimes  of  voluptuousness  and  impiety 
inevitably  conduct  a  people,  before  they  are  aware,  to  the  brink  of 
desolation  and  anarchy. 

If  you  had  wished  to  figure  to  yourselves  a  country  which  had 
reached  the  utmost  pinnacle  of  prosperity,  you  would  undoubtedly 
have  turned  your  eyes  to  France,  as  she  appeared  a  few  years  before 
the  revolution ;  illustrious  in  learning  and  genius  ;  the  favourite  abode 
of  the  arts,  and  the  mirror  of  fashion,  whither  the  flower  of  the  nobility 
from  all  countries  resorted,  to  acquire  the  last  polish  of  which  the 
human  character  is  susceptible.  Lulled  in  voluptuous  repose,  and 
dreaming  of  a  philosophical  millennium,  without  dependence  upon  God, 
like  the  generation  before  the  flood,  they  ate,  they  drank.,  they  married., 
they  loere  given  in  marriage.  In  that  exuberant  soil  every  thing 
seemed  to  flourish  but  religion  and  virtue.     The  season  however  was 


70  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

at  Icntjth  arrived  when  God  was  resolved  to  punish  their  impie'.,y,  as 
well  as  to  avenge  the  hlooil  of  his  servants,  whose  souls  had  lor  a 
century  been  incessantly  eryino;  to  him  from  under  the  altar.  And 
what  method  did  he  employ  for  this  purpose?  AVhen  He  to  whom 
vengeance  belongs,  when  He  whose  ways  are  unsearchable,  and 
whose  wisdom  is  inexhaustible,  proceeded  to  the  execution  of  this 
strange  work,  he  drew  from  his  treasures  a  Aveapon  he  had  never  em- 
ployed before.  Resolving  to  make  their  punishment  as  signal  as  their 
crimes,  he  neither  let  loose  an  inundation  of  barbarous  nations,  nor 
the  desolating  powers  of  the  universe :  he  neither  overwhelmed  them 
with  earthquakes,  nor  visited  them  with  pestilence.  He  summoned 
from  among  themselves  a  ferocity  more  terrible  than  eitlier ;  a  ferocity 
which,  mingling  in  the  struggle  for  liberty,  and  borrowing  aid  from 
that  very  refinement  to  which  it  seemed  to  be  opposed,  turiied  every 
man's  hand  against  his  neighbour,  sparing  no  age,  nor  sex,  nor  rank, 
till,  satiated  with  the  ruin  of  greatness,  the  distresses  of  innocence 
and  the  tears  of  beauty,  it  terminated  its  career  in  the  most  unrelent- 
ing despotism.  Thou  art  righteous,  O  Lord,  which  art,  and  xchich 
icas,  and  which  shall  be,  because  thou  hast  judged  thus,  for  they  have 
shed  the  blood  of  saints  and  prophets,  and  thou  hast  given  them  blood 
to  drink,  for  they  are  worthy. 

If  the  w^eakness  of  humanity  will  not  permit  us  to  keep  pace  with 
the  movements  of  divine  justice;  if,  from  the  deep  commiseration  ex- 
cited by  the  view  of  so  much  wo,  our  tongue  falters  in  expressing 
those  sublime  sentiments  of  triumph  which  revelation  suggests  on  this 
occasion,  we  shall  be  pardoned  by  the  Beijig  who  knows  our  frame ; 
while  nothing  can  prevent  us,  at  least,  from  adoring  this  illustrious 
vindication  of  his  own  religion,  whose  divinity  we  see  is  not  less 
apparent  in  the  blessings  it  bestows,  than  in  the  calamities  which 
mark  its  departure. 

Our  only  security  against  similar  calamities  is  a  steady  adherence 
to  this  religion ;  not  the  religion  of  mere  form  and  profession,  but  that 
which  has  its  seat  in  the  heart ;  not  as  it  is  njutilated  and  debased  by 
the  refinements  of  a  false  philosophy,  but  as  it  exists  in  all  its  simplicity 
and  extent  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  ;  consisting  in  sorrow  for  sin,  in 
the  love  of  God,  and  in  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer.  If  this  religion 
revives  and  flourishes  among  us,  we  may  still  surmount  all  our  diffi- 
culties, and  no  weapon  formed  against  us  will  prosper :  if  w^e  despise 
or  neglect  it,  no  human  power  can  afford  us  protection.  Instead  of 
showing  our  love  to  our  countr)%  therefore,  by  engaging  eagerly  in  the 
strife  of  parties,  let  us  choose  to  signalize  it  rather  by  beneficence,  by 
piety,  by  an  exemplary  discharge  of  the  duties  of  private  life,  under  a 
persuasion  that  that  man,  in  the  final  issue  of  things,  will  be  seen  to 
have  been  the  best  patriot  who  is  the  best  Christian.  He  who  diffuses 
the  most  happiness  and  mitigates  the  most  distress  Avithin  his  own 
circle  is  undoubtedly  the  best  friend  to  his  country  and  the  world, 
since  nothing  more  is  necessary  than  for  all  men  to  imitate  his  con- 
duct, to  make  the  greatest  part  of  the  misery  of  the  world  cease  in  a 
moment.     While  the  passion,  then,  of  some  is  to  shine,  of  some  to 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  71 

govern,  and  of  others  to  accumulate,  let  one  great  passion  alone  uiflanie 
our  breasts,  the  passion  which  reason  ratifies,  which  conscience 
approves,  which  Heaven  inspires, — that  of  being  and  of  doing  gdod. 

There  is  no  vanity,  I  trust,  in  supposing  that  the  reflections  which 
this  discourse  has  presented  to  your  view  have  awakened  those  senti- 
ments of  gratitude  to  the  Father  of  mercies  for  his  gracious  interposi- 
tion in  the  restoration  of  peace,  whicli  you  are  impatient  to  express 
by  stronger  evidence  than  words.  Should  this  be  the  case,  a  plain 
path  is  before  you.  While  tlie  eminence  of  the  divine  perfections  ren- 
ders it  impossible  for  us  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  or  augment  the 
glory  of  the  Creator,  he  has  left  among  us,  for  the  exercise  of  our 
virtue,  tlie  indigent  and  the  afflicted,  whom  he  has  in  an  especial  man- 
ner committed  to  our  care,  and  appointed  to  represent  himself.  The 
objects  of  the  institution  for  which  I  have  this  day  the  honour  to  plead 
are  those  of  whom  the  very  mention  is  sufficient  to  excite  compassion 
in  every  feeling  mind, — the  sick  and  the  aged  poor  *  To  be  scantily 
provided  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  to  endure  cold,  hunger,  and 
nakedness,  is  a  great  calamity  at  all  seasons  ;  it  is  almost  unnecessary 
to  observe  how  much  these  evils  are  aggravated  by  the  pressure  of 
disease,  when  exhausted  nature  demands  whatever  the  most  tender 
assiduity  can  supply  to  cheer  its  languor  and  support  its  suflerings. 
It  is  the  peculiar  misfortune  of  the  afflicted  poor,  that  the  very  circum- 
stance which  increases  their  wants  cuts  off,  by  disqualifying  them 
for  labour,  the  means  of  their  supply.  Bodily  atHiction,  therefore, 
falls  upon  them  with  an  accumulated  Aveight.  .  Poor  at  best,  when 
seized  with  sickness  they  become  utterly  destitute.  Incapable  even 
of  presenting  themselves  to  the  eye  of  pity,  nothing  remains  for  them 
but  silently  to  yield  themselves  up  to  sorrow  and  despair.  The  second 
class  of  objects  which  it  is  the  design  of  this  society  to  relieve  are  the 
aged  poor.  Here  it  is  quite  unnecessary  for  me  to  attempt  to  paint  to 
you'the  sorrows  of  old  age  ;  a  period  jndeed  which,  by  a  strange  incon- 
sistency, we  all  w^ish  to  reach,  while  we  shrink  with  a  sort  of  horror 
from  the  infirmities  and  sufferings  inseparable  from  that  melancholy 
season.  What  can  be  a  more  pitiable  object  than  decrepitude  sinking 
under  the  accumulated  load  of  years  and  of  penury?  Arrived  at  that 
period  when  the  most  fortunate  confess  they  have  no  pleasure,  how 
forlorn  is  his  situation  who,  destitute  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  has 
survived  his  last  child  or  his  last  friend.  Solitary  and  neglected,  with- 
out comfort  and  without  hope,  depending  for  every  thing  on  a  kindness 
he  has  no  means  of  conciliating,  he  finds  himself  left  alone  in  a  world 
to  which  he  has  ceased  to  belong,  and  is  only  felt  in  society  as  a  bur- 
den it  is  impatient  to  shake  off.  Such  are  the  objects  to  which  this 
institution  soHcits  your  regard. 

It  is,  in  my  humble  opinion,  a  most  excellent  part  of  the  plan  of 
the  society  in  whose  behalf  I  address  you,  that  no  relief  is  adminis- 

*  It  may  bo  proper  to  remind  the  reader,  that  this  discourse  was  preached  for  the  benefit  of  a 
»enevolent  society,  recently  instituted  at  Cambridge,  for  tlie  relief  of  the  sick  and  aged  jioor ;  and 
(hat  one  principal  motive  with  the  author  for  complying  with  the  reque-'t  of  the  society  in  |)ubli-h- 
Hshing  it  was  a  desire  to  excite  the  attention  of  I  tie  benevolent  to  Itie  formation  of  sniiilar  societies 
tn  other  parts.    A  further  account  of  the  institution  will  be  founi  at  lije  end  of  the  sermon. 


72  llEFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

tpred  without  first  porsoiKiUy  visitiiii?  the  objects  m  their  own  abode. 
Bv  such  means  the  precise  circumstances  of  each  case  are  eh^arly 
ascertained,  and  fmposture  is  sure  to  be  detected.  Wiiere  charity  is 
administered  witliout  this  precaution,  as  it  is  impossible  to  discriminate 
real  from  pretended  distress,  the  most  disinterested  benevolence  often 
fails  of  its  purpose  ;  and  that  is  yielded  to  clamorous  importunity 
which  is  withheld  from  lonely  want.  The  mischief  extends  much 
farther.  From  the  frequency  of  such  imposition,  the  best  minds  are 
in  danaier  of  becoming  disgusted  with  the  exercise  of  pecuniary  charity, 
till,  from  a  mistaken  persuasion  that  it  is  impossible  to  guard  against 
deception,  they  treat  the  most  abandoned  and  the  most  deserving  with 
the  same  neglect.  Thus  the  heart  contracts  into  selfishness,  and 
those  delicious  emotions  which  the  benevolent  Author  of  Nature  im- 
planted to  prompt  us  to  relieve  distress  become  extinct;  a  loss  greater 
to  ourselves  than  to  the  objects  to  whom  we  deny  our  compassion. 
To  prevent  a  degradation  of  character  so  fatal,  allow  me  to  urge  on 
all  whom  Providence  has  blessed  with  the  means  of  doing  good,  on 
those  especially  who  are  indulged  with  affluence  and  leisure,  the  im 
portance  of  devoting  some  portion  of  their  time  in  inspecting,  as  weU 
as  of  their  property  in  relieving,  the  distresses  of  the  poor. 

By  this  means  an  habitual  tenderness  will  be  cherished,  wdiich  will 
heighten  inexpressibly  the  happiness  of  life,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
will  most  effectually  counteract  that  selfishness  which  a  continual  ad- 
dictedness  to  the  pursuits  of  avarice  and  ambition  never  fails  to  produce. 
As  selfishness  is  a  principle  of  continual  op*;ration,  it  needs  to  be 
opposed  by  some  other  principle,  whose  operation  is  equally  uniform 
and  steady ;  but  the  casual  impulse  of  compassion  excited  by  occa- 
sional applications  for  relief  is  by  no  means  equal  to  this  purpose 
Then  only  will  benevolence  become  a  prevailing  habit  of  ramd,  when 
its  exertion  enters  into  the  system  of  life,  and  occupies  some  stated 
portion  of  the  time  and  attention.  In  addition  to  this,  it  is  w-orth 
while  to  reflect  how  much  consolation  the  poor  must  derive  from  find- 
ing they  are  the  objects  of  personal  attention  to  their  more  opulent  neigh- 
bours ;  that  they  are  acknowledged  as  brethren  of  the  same  family : 
and  that,  should  they  be  overtaken  with  affliction  or  calamity,  they 
are  in  no  danger  of  perishing  unpitied  and  unnoticed.  With  all  the 
pride  that  wealth  is  apt  to  inspire,  how  seldom  are  the  opulent  truly 
aware  of  their  high  destination.  Placed  by  the  Lord  of  all  on  an 
eminence,  and  intrusted  with  a  superior  portion  of  his  goods,  to  them 
it  belongs  to  be  the  dispensers  of  his  bounty,  to  succour  distress,  to 
draw  merit  from  obscurity,  to  behold  oppression  and  want  vanish 
before  them,  and,  accompanied  wherever  they  move  with  perpetual 
benedictions,  to  present  an  image  of  Him,  who,  at  the  close  of  time, 
in  the  kingdom  of  the  redeemed,  will  icipe  away  tears  from  all  faces. 
It  is  surely  unnecessary  to  remark  how  insipid  are  the  pleasures  of 
voluptuousness  and  ambition,  compared  to  what  such  a  life  must 
aflTord,  whether  we  compare  them  with  respect  to  the  present,  the 
review  of  the  past,  or  the  prospect  of  the  future. 

It  is  prob?.ble  some  may  object  that  such  exertions,  however  amiable 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  73 

ai  themselves,  are  rendered  unnecessary  by  the  system  of  parochial 
relief  established  in  this  country.  To  which  it  is  obvious  to  reply,  that 
however  useful  this  institution  may  be,  there  must  always  be  a  great 
deal  cf  distress  which  it  can  never  relieve.  Like  all  national  institu- 
tions, it  is  incapable  of  bending  from  the  rigour  of  general  rules,  so  as 
to  adapt  itself  to  the  precise  circumstances  of  each  respective  case. 
Besides  that  it  would  be  vain  to  expect  much  tenderness  in  the  execu- 
tion of  a  legal  office,  the  machine  itself,  though  it  may  be  well  suited 
to  the  general  purpose  it  is  intended  to  answer,  is  too  large  and 
unwieldy  to  touch  those  minute  points  of  difference,  those  distinct 
kinds  and  gradations  of  distress  to  which  the  operation  of  personal 
benevolence  will  easily  adapt  itself.  In  addition  to  which,  it  will  occur 
to  those  who  reflect,  that  on  account  of  the  increasing  demands  of  the 
poor,  the  parochial  system,  which  presses  hard  upon  many  ill  able  to 
bear  it,  is  already  strained  to  the  utmost. 

Although  the  society  in  whose  behalf  I  address  you  is  but  recently 
established,  it  has  been  enabled  painfully  to  ascertain  the  vast  propor- 
tion of  its  objects  of  the  female  sex, — a  melancholy  circumstance, 
deserving  the  serious  attention  of  the  public  on  more  accounts  than 
one.  Of  the  cases  which  have  occurred  to  their  notice  since  the  com- 
mencement of  their  labours,  more  than  three-fourths  have  been  of  that 
description.  The  situation  of  females  Avithout  fortune  in  this  country 
is  indeed  deeply  affecting.  Excluded  from  all  the  active  employments, 
in  which  they  might  engage  with  the  utmost  propriety,  by  men  who, 
to  the  injury  of  one  sex,  add  the  disgrace  of  making  the  other  effemi- 
nate and  ridiculous,  an  indigent  female,  the  object  probably  of  love 
and  tenderness  in  her  youth,  at  a  more  advanced  age  a  withered 
flower  !  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  retire  and  die.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass 
that  the  most  amialjle  part  of  our  species,  by  a  detestable  combination 
in  those  who  ought  to  be  their  protectors,  are  pushed  off  the  stage  as 
though  they  were  no  longer  worthy  to  live  when  they  ceased  to  be  the 
objects  of  passion.  How  strongly  on  this  account  this  society  is  enti- 
tled to  your  attention  (as  words  would  fail)  I  leave  to  the  pensive 
reflection  of  your  own  bosoms. 

To  descant  on  the  evils  of  poverty  might  seem  entirely  unnecessary 
(for  what  with  most  is  the  great  business  of  life,  but  to  remove  it  to 
the  greatest  possible  distance  ?)  were  it  not,  that  besides  its  being  the 
most  common  of  all  evils,  there  are  circumstances  peculiar  to  itself, 
which  expose  it  to  neglect.  The  seat  of  its  sufferings  are  the  appe- 
tites, not  the  passions ;  appetites  which  are  common  to  all,  and  which, 
being  capable  of  no  peculiar  combinations,  confer  no  distinction. 
There  are  kinds  of  distress  founded  on  the  passions,  which,  if  not 
applauded,  are  at  least  admired  in  their  excess,  as  implying  a  peculiar 
••efinement  of  sensibility  in  the  mind  of  the  sufferer.  Embellished  by 
taste,  and  wrought  by  the  magic  of  genius  into  innumerable  forms, 
they  turn  grief  into  a  luxury,  and  draw  from  the  eyes  of  millions  deli- 
cious tears.  But  no  muse  ever  ventured  to  adorn  the  distresses  of 
poverty  or  the  sorrows  of  hunger.  Disgusting  taste  and  delicacy, 
md  presenting  nothing  pleasing  to  the  imagination,  they  are  mere 


74  REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR. 

niiseiy  in  all  its  nakodncss  aiul  deformity.  Hence  shame  in  the  suf« 
fcrcr,  eontomju  in  the  beliolilir,  and  an  obscurity  of  station  which 
frequently  removes  them  from  the  view,  are  their  inseparable  portion. 
Nor  can  I  reckon  it  on  this  account  among  the  improvements  of  the 
present  ajje,  tliat  bv  the  multiplication  of  works  of  liction  the  attention 
is  diverted  from  scenes  of  real  to  tliose  of  imaginary  distress ;  from 
the  distress  which  demands  relief  to  that  which  admits  of  embellish- 
ment :  in  consequence  of  which  the  understanding  is  enervated,  the 
heart  is  corrupted,  and  those  feelings  which  were  designed  to  stimulate 
to  active  benevolence  arc  employed  in  nourishing  a  sickly  sensibility. 
To  a  most  impure  and  whimsical  writer,*  whose  very  humanity  is 
unnatural,  we  are  considerably  indebted  for  this  innovation.  Though 
it  cannot  be  denied,  that  by  diffusing  a  warmer  colouring  over  the 
visions  of  fancy,  sensibility  is  often  a  source  of  exquisite  pleasures  to 
others  if  not  to  the  possessor,  yet  it  should  never  be  confounded  with 
benevolence  ;  since  it  constitutes  at  best  rather  the  ornament  of  a  fine 
than  the  virtue  of  a  good  mind.  A  good  man  may  have  nothing  of  it, 
a  bad  man  may  have  it  in  abundance. 

Leaving  therefore  these  amusements  of  the  imagination  to  the  vain 
and  indolent,  let  us  awake  to  nature  and  truth ;  and  in  a  world  from 
which  we  must  so  shortly  be  summoned,  a  world  abounding  with  so 
many  real  scenes  of  heart-rending  distress  as  well  as  of  vice  and 
unpiety.  employ  all  our  powers  in  relieving  the  one  and  in  correcting 
the  other ;  that  when  we  have  arrived  at  the  borders  of  eternity,  we 
may  not  be  tormented  with  the  awful  reflection  of  having  lived  in  vain. 

If  ever  there  was  a  period  when  poverty  made  a  more  forcible  ap- 
peal than  usual  to  the  heart,  it  is  unquestionably  that  which  we  have 
lately  witnessed,  the  calamities  of  which,  though  greatly  diminished 
by  the  auspicious  event  which  we  now  celebrate,  are  far  from  being 
entirely  removed.  Poverty  used  in  happier  times  to  be  discerned  in  a 
superior  meanness  of  apparel  and  the  total  absence  of  ornament.  We 
have  seen  its  ravages  reach  the  man,  proclaiming  themselves  in  the 
trembling  step,  in  the  dejected  countenance,  and  the  faded  form.  We 
have  seen  emaciated  infants,  no  ruddiness  in  their  cheeks,  no  spright- 
liness  in  their  motions,  while  the  eager  an'd  imploring  looks  of  their 
mothers,  reduced  below  the  loud  expressions  of  grief,  have  announced 
unutterable  anguish  and  silent  despair. 

From  the  reflections  which  have  been  made  on  the  peculiar  nature 
of  poverty,  you  will  easily  account  for  the  prodigious  stress  which  is 
laid  on  the  duty  of  pecuniary  benevolence  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. In  the  former,  God  delighted  in  assuming  the  character  of  the 
patron  of  the  poor  and  needy ;  in  the  latter,  the  short  definition  of  the 
religion  which  he  approves  is  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widow,  and  to 
keep  himself  unspotted  from  the  world.  He  who  knew  what  was  in 
man,  well  knew  that,  since  the  entrance  of  sin,  selfishness  was  become 
the  epidemic  disease  of  human  nature ;  a  malady  which  almost  every 

*  The  author  alludes  to  Sterne,  the  whole  tendency  of  whose  writings  is  to  degrade  human  nature 
ty  resolving  all  our  passions  into  a  mere  animal  instinct,  and  that  of  the  grossest  sort.  It  was  per- 
fectly natural  for  such  a  writer  to  employ  his  powers  in  panegjTizing  an  ass. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  WAR.  75 

thinj,  ^nds  co  inflame,  and  the  conquest  of  which  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary before  we  can  be  prepared  for  the  felicity  of  heaven ;  that  what- 
ever leads  us  out  of  ourselves,  whatever  unites  us  to  him  and  his 
creatures  in  pure  love,  is  an  important  step  towards  the  recovery  of 
his  imaoe ;  and  finally,  that  his  church  would  consist  for  the  most 
part  of  the  poor  of  this  world,  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  king- 
do?n,  whom  he  was  resolved  to  shield  from  the  contempt  of  all  who 
respect  his  authority,  by  selecting  them  from  the  innumerable  millions 
of  mankind  to  be  the  peculiar  representatives  of  himself. 

Happy  are  they  whose  lives  correspond  to  these  benevolent  inten- 
tions ;  who,  looking  beyond  the  transitory  distinctions  which  prevail 
here,  and  will  vanish  at  the  first  approach  of  eternity,  honour  God  in 
his  children,  and  Christ  in  his  image.  How  much,  on  the  contrary, 
are  those  to  be  pitied,  in  whatever  sphere  they  move,  who  live  to 
themselves,  unmindful  of  the  coming  of  their  Lord.  Whe^i  he  shall 
come  and  shall  not  keep  silence,  when  a  fre  shall  devour  before  him,  and 
it  shall  be  very  tempestuous  round  about  him,  every  thing,  it  is  true, 
will  combine  to  fill  them  with  consternation  ;  yet,  methinks,  neither  the 
voice  of  the  archangel,  nor  the  trump  of  God,  nor  the  dissolution  of  the 
elements,  nor  the  face  of  the  Judge  itself,  from,  which  the  heavens  will 
flee  away,  will  be  so  dismaying  and  terrible  to  these  men  as  the  sight 
of  the  poor  members  of  Christ ;  whom,  having  spurned  and  neglected 
in  the  days  of  their  humiliation,  they  will  then  behold  with  amazement 
united  to  their  Lord,  covered  with  his  glory,  and  seated  on  his  throne. 
How  will  they  be  astonished  to  see  them  surrounded  with  so  much 
majesty  !  How  will  they  cast  down  their  eyes  in  their  presence ! 
How  will  they  curse  that  gold  which  will  then  eat  their  flesh  as  with  fire, 
and  that  avarice,  that  indolenCe,  that  voluptuousness  which  will  entitle 
ihem  to  so  much  misery  !  You  will  then  learn  that  the  imitation  of 
Christ  is  the  only  wisdom :  you  will  then  be  convinced  it  is  better  to 
be  endeared  to  the  cottage  than  admirgd  in  the  palace  ;  when  to  have 
wiped  the  tears  of  the  afflicted,  and  inherited  the  prayers  of  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless,  shall  be  found  a  richer  patrimony  than  the  favour 
of  princes. 


ACCOUNT  OF 
THE  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY, 

FOR 

THE    RELIEF   OF  THE    SICK  AND  AGED  POOR 

INSTITUTED  AT  CAMBRIDGE,  1801. 


Blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor. — Psalm  xli.  1. 

Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  untc 
lie.— -Matt   \  .V.40 


That  benevolence  is  an  habitual  duty,  arising  out  of  our  constitution  as  rational 
and  social  creatures,  and  enforced  upon  us  by  the  most  powerful  motives  as  Chris- 
tians, no  one  will  deny.  The  various  exertions  of  the  humane  and  the  pious,  in 
private  circles  and  in  public  institutions,  are  so  many  proofs  of  the  truth  of  this 
sentiment ;  but  notwithstanding  those  exertions,  there  is  still  ample  room  for  en- 
largement. Those  persons  who  are  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the  cottages  or  the 
chambers  of  the  poor,  are  too  frequently  the  melancholy  witnesses  of  that  extreme 
povert}',  pining  sickness,  and  poignant  distress  which  energetically  call  for  relief. 

With  the  design  of  administering,  in  some  degree,  such  relief,  a  number  of  per- 
sons have  formed  themselves  into  a  society,  the  nature  and  objects  of  which  are 
such,  that  it  may  with  the  greatest  tiuth  be  said  to  deserve,  and  it  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  but  it  will  meet  with  such  encouragement  as  may  render  it  a  blessing  to 
the  poor  of  the  town  of  Cambridge.  It  is  likewise  ardently  hoped,  that  the  society 
will  meet  with  such  further  encouragement  that  its  benevolent  exertions  may  not 
be  confined  to  the  town,  but  extended  to  the  neighbouring  villages. 

The  KiRST  object  of  the  society  is,  to  afford  pecuniary  assistance  to  the  sick 
and  the  agkd  poor.  To  select  proper  objects,  and  guard  against  the  abuses  attend- 
ing indiscriminate  relief,  visiters  will  be  appointed  to  examine  and  judge  of  the 
nature  of  every  case,  and  to  report  the  same  to  a  committee  of  the  society. 

The  SECOND  object  of  the  society  is,  the  moral  and  religiotts  improvement  of 
the  objects  relieved.  A  word  spoken  in  due  season  (says  the  Wise  Man)  how  good 
is  it  '.  The  hour  of  affliction,  the  bed  of  sickness,  afford  the  most  seasonable 
opportunities  for  usefulness  ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  heart  may  in  a  more  peculiar 
manner  be  open  to  the  best  of  impressions  at  such  a  season,  and  when  under  a 
sense  of  obligation  for  relief  already  administered. 

In  a  society  like  the  present,  all  distinctions  of  sects  and  parties  are  lost  in  the 
one  general  design  of  doing  good;  and  the  success  which  has  attended  societies, 
nearly  similar,  in  different  parts  of  this  kingdom,  and  more  particularly  in  the 
metropolis,  in  relieving  the  distress  and  ameliorating  the  condition  of  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands  of  our  fellow-creatures,  affords  reason  to  hope,  that  under 
the  divine  blessing  similar  success  will  attend  the  society  established  m  this  town. 

RULES. 

1.  Any  person,  of  whatever  denomination,  age,  or  sex,  disposed  to  assist  this 
benevolent  undertaking,  may  be  admitted  a  subscriber;  each  subscriber,  on  admis- 
sion, to  pay  7iot  less  than  one  shilUng,  and  from  twopence  per  week  to  any  sum 
Buch  subscriber  may  think  proper. 


ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  77 

n.  That  the  business  of  this  society  be  managed  by  a  committee  of  fourteen 
persons,  including  the  treasurer  and  secretary  ;  five  of  whom  shall  be  competent 
to  transact  business : — that  the  committee  be  open  to  any  member  of  the  society 
who  may  think  proper  to  attend.  In  case  of  any  vacancy  in  the  committee  by 
death  or  resignation,  the  remaining  members  of  the  committee  be  empowered  to 
1.11  up  such  vacancy. 

III.  That  the  committee  meet  monthly  at  each  other's  houses,  to  receive  reports, 
consider  of  cases,  appoint  visiters,  and  audit  their  accounts. 

IV.  That  there  be  an  annual  general  meeting,  of  which  due  notice  will  be  given, 
when  the  state  of  the  society  shall  be  reported,  and  the  treasurer,  secretary,  and 
committee  appointed,  to  manage  the  concerns  thereof. 

V.  That  the  sick  and  the  aged  be  esteemed  the  only  objects  of  the  compassion 
of  this  society  ;  and  when  the  fund  is  reduced  to  the  sum  of  five  pounds,  the  cases 
of  the  sick  alone  shall  be  attended  to. 

VI.  That  no  member  be  allowed  to  recommend  a  case  until  three  months 
after  his  or  her  subscription  hath  commenced,  nor  if  four  months  in  arrears,  until 
such  arrears  be  discharged,  provided  they  have  received  notice  of  the  same. 

VII.  That  no  case  be  received  but  from  a  subscriber,  who  is  expected  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  the  case  recommended,  and  to  report  the  particulars  to  one 
of  the  visiters. 

VIII.  That  the  visiters  be  appointed  to  administer  relief,  and  not  the  person 
who  recommends  the  case. 

IX.  That  no  subscribers,  while  they  continue  such,  shall  receive  any  relief 
from  this  society,  nor  shall  any  of  those  who  conduct  the  business  thereof  receive 
any  gratuity  for  their  services. 

The  committee  consists  of  an  equal  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen ;  and  per- 
sons of  both  sexes  are  appointed  as  visiters  in  rotation. 

Subscriptions  and  donations  are  received  by  the  treasurer,  secretary,  or  any 
member  of  the  committee. 

At  a  general  meeting  of  the  society,  held  agreeably  to  public  noiice,  at  Mr. 
Alderman  Ind's,  on  Monday,  May  3,  1802 : — It  was  resolved.  That  when  the 
annual  subscriptions  of  the  society  amount  to  sixty  pounds,  and  the  fund  to  thirty 
pounds,  the  committee  be  empowered  to  extend  relief  to  other  distressed  objects 
besides  the  sick  and  the  aged. 


THE  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO  THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  i 

A    SERMON, 

PREACHED    AT 

BRIDGE-STREET,  BRISTOL, 

October  19,  1803  ; 

being  the  day  appointed  for  a  general  fast. 


Ut%."  esset,  non  mer  imperaret.— Ctcwo. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Some  apology  is  due  to  the  public  for  this  discourse  appearing  so 
long  after  it  was  preached.  Tiie  fact  is,  the  writer  was  engaged  on 
an  exchange  of  services  for  a  month  with  his  highly  esteemed  friend 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Lowell,  of  Bristol,  author  of  an  excellent  volume  of 
sermons  on  practical  subjects,  at  the  time  it  was  delivered,  and  had 
no  opportunity  of  writing  it  till  he  returned.  As  it  touches  entirely  on 
permanent  topics,  except  what  relates  to  the  threatened  invasion  still 
impending  over  us,  he  knows  not  but  it  may  be  as  suitable  now  as  if 
it  had  appeared  earlier.  As  it  is,  he  commits  it  to  the  candour  of  the 
public.  He  has  only  to  add,  that  the  allusion  to  the  effects  of  the 
tragic  muse*  should  have  been  marked  as  a  quotation,  though  the 
author  knows  not  with  certainty  to  whom  to  ascribe  it.  He  believes 
it  fell  from  the  elegant  pen  of  an  illustrious  female,  Mrs.  More. 

Shelford,  Nov.  30,  1803. 

Vot.I.-F  *  Page  106. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


Ix  this  edition  the  author  lias  corrected  those  errors  of  the  press 
which  in  tlie  former  were  very  considerable.  The  Monthly  Reviewers 
have  founded  a  criticism  entirely  on  one  of  them.  Tlie  author  had 
remarked,  that  infidelity  was  bred  in  the  stagnant  marshes  of  cor- 
nipted  Christianity.  The  printer  having  omitted  the  word  corrupted, 
the  Reviewers  remark  that  they  never  found  in  their  map  of  Chris- 
tianity any  stagnant  marshes.  Having  mentioned  the  Monthly  Re- 
viewers, he  must  be  permitted  to  notice  a  most  singular  error  into 
which  they  have  been  betrayed ;  that  of  supposing  the  author  had 
confounded  Aristotle  with  Mrs.  More.  It  is  well  known  to  every  one 
who  has  the  smallest  tincture  of  learning,  that  the  great  critic  of 
antiquity  represents  the  design  of  tragedy  to  be  that  of  purifying  the 
heart  by  pity  and  terror.  It  appeared  to  the  author  that  infidelity,  by 
the  crimes  and  disorders  it  has  produced  in  society,  was  not  inca- 
pable of  answering  a  similar  purpose.  He  accordingly  availed  him- 
self of  the  comparison ;  but  it  having  occurred  to  him  afterward  that 
he  had  read  a  similar  passage  in  Mrs.  More,  he  thought  it  right  to 
aotice  this  circumstance  in  an  advertisement ;  in  which  he  says  he 
apprehends  the  allusion  to  the  tragic  muse  to  belong  to  Mrs.  More. 
It  was  not  the  opinion  of  its  being  the  purpose  of  tragedy  to  purify 
the  heart  by  pic}^  and  terror  that  he  ascribed  to  that  celebrated  female  ^ 
out  solely  the  allusion  to  that  opinion  as  illustrating  the  effect  of 
infidelity.  It  is  on  this  slender  foundation,  however,  that  the  writer 
in  the  Monthly  Review,  with  what  design  is  best  known  to  himself, 
has  thought  fit  to  represent  him  as  ascribing  to  Mrs.  More,. as  its 
author,  a  critical  opinion  which  has  been  current  for  more  than  two 
thousand  years.  He  is  certain  his  words  will  not  support  any  such 
construction,  though  he  will  not  contend  that  he  has  expressed  him- 
self with  all  the  clearness  that  might  be  wished. 

He  is  sorry  to  find  some  passages  towards  the  close  of  the  sermon 
have  given  ofl^ence  to  persons  whom  he  highly  esteems.  It  has  been 
objected,  that  the  author  has  admitted  to  heaven  a  crowd  of  legis- 
lators, patriots,  and  heroes,  whose  title  to  that  honour,  on  Christian 
principles,  is  very  equivocal.  In  reply  to  which,  he  begs  it  to  be 
remembered  that  the  New  Testament  teaches,  that  God  is  no  respecter 
of  persons ;  that  in  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  God  and  icorketh  right- 
eousness is  accepted  of  him;  that  we  may  be  certain  there  will- not 
be  wanting  in  the  innumerable  assembly  around  the  throne  some  of 


PREFACE.  83 

the  highest  rank  and  of  the  most  illustrious  talents :  and  that  the 
writer  has  qualified  the  character  of  those  legislators  and  patriots 
whom  he  has  represented  as  being  in  heaven  with  the   epithet  of 
virtuous ;  and  this,  after  he  had  been  at  some  pains  to  explain  what  he 
comprehended  in  his  idea  of  virtue.     He  has  been  censured  for  attempt- 
ing to  animate  the  defenders  of  their  country,  by  holding  out  the  pros- 
pect of  immortality,  should  they  fall  in  the  contest ;  and  it  has  been 
asked  why,  instead  of  amusing  them  with  this  phantom,  not  endeavour 
to  convince  them  of  the  necessity  of  religious  preparation  for  death, 
when  he  must  be  aware  it  is  very  possible  for  men  to  die  fighting  in 
defence  of  their  country,  and  yet  fall  short  of  future  happiness.     1'hc 
writer  is,  indeed,  fully  persuaded,  that  in  the  concerns  of  salvation  no 
reliance  ought  to  be  placed  on  a  detached  instance  of  virtuous  conduct  ; 
that  a  solid  piety  is  indispensably  necessary,  and  that  without  holiness 
no  man  can  see  the  Lord.     But  after  having  employed  a  great  part  of 
ihe  preceding  discourse  in  urging  the  necessity  of  repentance,  he  may 
surely  be  allowed  for  a  moment  to  take  it  for  granted  that  his  admo- 
nitions have  been  attended  to ;  and  without  treading  over  the  same 
ground,  in  an  address  to  men  who  are  supposed  to  be  just  entering 
the  field,  to  advert  to  topics  more  immediately  connected  with  military 
prowess.     It  was  never  his  intention  to  place  worldly  on  a  level  with 
religious  considerations,  or  to  confound  the  sentiments  of  honour  with 
the  dictates  of  duty.     But  as  the  fear  of  death  and  the  love  of  fame 
are  both  natural,  and  both  innocent  within  certain  limits,  he  was  not 
aware  there  could  be  any  impropriety,  when  he.  had  already  dwelt 
largely  on  religious  topics,  to  oppose  one  natural  sentiment  to  another. 
He  who  confines  himself  to  such  considerations  violates  the  character 
of  the  Christian  minister ;  he  who  neglects  them  entirely  is  wanting 
to  the  duties  of  the  present  crisis.     The  writer  has  only  to  add  on 
this  head,  that  in  the  addresses  on  similar  occasions  in  the  Scriptures 
there  is  rarely  a  greater  mixture  of  religious  topics,  or  more  reserve 
in  appealing  to  other  motives,  than  is  found  here ;  so  that  if  he  has 
erred,  his  error  is  countenanced  by  the  highest,  that  is,  by  inspired 
authority. 

Finally :  he  has  been  censured  for  expressing  in  such  strong  terms 
his  detestation  of  the  character  of  Buonaparte.  It  has  been  said,  that 
however  just  his  representation  may  be,  it  is  losing  sight  of  the  true 
design  of  a  national  fast,  which  is  to  confess  and  bewail  our  own  sins, 
instead  of  inveighing  against  the  sins  of  others.  That  this  is  the  true 
end  of  a  public  fast  the  writer  is  convinced ;  on  which  account  he  has 
expressly  cautioned  his  readers  against  placing  reliance  on  their  sup- 
posed superiority  in  virtue  to  their  enemies.  What  he  has  said  of 
the  character  of  Buonaparte  is  with  an  entirely  different  view  ;  it  is 
urged,  not  as  a  ground  of  security,  but  as  a  motive  to  the  most  vigor- 
ous resistance.  In  this  view  it  is  impossible  for  it  to  be  too  deeply 
impressed.  When  a  people  are  threatened  with  invasion,  will  it  be 
affirmed  that  the  personal  character  of  the  invader  is  of  no  conse- 
quence ;  and  that  it  is  not  worth  a  moment's  consideration  whether  he 
possess  the  virtuous  moderation  of  a  Washington,  or  the  restless  and 

F2 


B4  PREFACE. 

insatiable  ambition  of  a  Buonaparte?  Though  hostile  invasion  is  an 
unspeakable  ealaniilv  in  anv  situation,  and  under  any  eircunistances, 
yet  it  is  capable  of  as  many  inodifications  as  the  dispositions  and 
designs  of  the  invaders ;  and  if  in  the  present  instance  the  crimes  of 
our  enemy  supply  the  most  cogent  motives  to  resistance,  can  it  be 
wrong  to  turn  his  vices  against  himself;  and,  by  imprinting  a  deep 
abhorrence  of  his  perfidy  and  cruelty  on  the  hearts  of  the  people,  to 
put  them  more  thoroughly  on  their  guard  against  their  effects  ? 

It  may  be  thought  a  sermon  on  a  fast-day  should  have  comprehended 
a  fuller  enumeration  of  our  national  sins,  and  this  was  the  author's 
design  when  he  first  turned  his  attention  to  the  subject ;  but  he  was 
diverted  from  it  by  observing  that  these  themes,  from  the  press  at 
least,  seem  to  make  no  kind  of  impression ;  and  that  whatever  the 
most  skilful  preacher  can  advance  is  fastidiously  repelled  as  stale 
and  professional  declamation.  The  people  in  general  are  settled  into 
an  indifference  so  profound,  with  respect  to  all  such  subjects,  that  the 
preacher  who  arraigns  their  vices  in  the  most  vehement  manner  has 
no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  exciting  their  displeasure ;  but  it  is  well  if, 
long  before  he  has  finished  his  reproofs,  he  has  not  lulled  them  to 
sleep.  From  a  due  consideration  of  the  temper  of  the  times,  he  there- 
fore thought  it  expedient  to  direct  the  attention  to  what  appeared  to 
him  the  chief  source  of  public  degeneracy,  rather  than  insist  at  large 
on  particular  vices.  He  has  in  this  edition,  in  some  places,  expanded 
the  illustration  where  it  appeared  defective,  as  well  as  corrected  the 
gross  errors  of  the  press  which  disfigured  the  discourse  ;  being  desirous, 
ere  it  descends  to  that  oblivion  which  is  the  natural  exit  of  such  pub- 
lications, of  presenting  it  for  once  in  an  amended  form,  that  it  may  at 
east  be  decently  interred. 


A   SERMON. 


Jeremiah  viii.  6. 


I  hearkened  and  heard,  hut  they  spake  not  aright :  no  man  repented 
Mm  of  his  wickedness,  saying.  What  have  I  done?  every  one  turned 
to  his  course,  as  the  horse  rusheth  into  the  battle. 

Though  we  are  well  assured  the  Divine  Being  is  attentive  to  the 
conduct  of  men  at  all  times,  yet  it  is  but  reasonable  to  believe  he  is 
peculiarly  so  while  they  are  under  his  correcting  hand.  As  he  does 
not  willingly  afflict  the  children  of  men,  he  is  wont  to  do  it  slowly  and 
at  intervals,  waiting,  if  we  may  so  speak,  to  see  whether  the  preceding 
chastisement  will  produce  the  sentiments  which  shall  appease  his 
anger,  or  those  which  shall  confirm  his  resolution  to  punish.  When 
sincere  humiliation  and  sorrow  for  past  offences  take  place,  his  dis- 
pleasure subsides,  he  relents,  and  repents  himself  of  the  evil.  Thus 
he  speaks  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah : — At  what  instant  I  shall  speak 
concerning  a  nation,  and  concerning  a  kingdom,  to  pluck  tip,  and  to  pull 
down,  and  to  destroy  it  ;  if  that  nation,  against  whom  I  liave  pronounced, 
turn  from  their  evil,  I  will  repent  of  the  evil  that  I  thought  to  do  unto  them. 

We  are  this  day  assembled  at  the  call  of  our  sovereign,  to  humble 
ourselves  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  under  a  sense  of  our  sins, 
and  to  implore  his  interposition,  that  we  may  not  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  our  enemies,  nor  fall  a  prey  to  the  malice  of  those  who  hate 
us.  It  is  surely  then  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  see  to  it,  that  our 
humiliation  be  deep,  our  repentance  sincere,  and  the  dispositions  we 
cherish,  as  well  as  the  I'esolutions  we  form,  suitable  to  the  nature  of 
the  crisis  and  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion ;  such,  in  a  word,  as 
Omniscience  will  approve. 

In  the  words  of  the  text,  the  Lord  reproaches  the  people  of  Israel 
with  not  speaking  aright,  and  complains  that,  while  he  was  waiting  to 
hear  the  language  of  penitential  sorrow  and  humiliation,  he  witnessed 
nothing  but  an  insensibility  to  his  reproofs,  an  obstinate  perseverance 
in  guilt,  with  a  fatal  eagerness  to  rush  to  their  former  courses.  He 
hearkened  and  heard,  hut  they  spake  not  aright:  no  n\an  repented  him- 
self of  his  iniquity,  nor  said.  What  have  I  done?  hut  every  one  rushed 
to  his  course,  as  the  horse  rusheth  into  the  battle. 

As  the  principles  of  the  divine  administration  are  invariable,  and  the 
situation  of  Great  Britain  at  this  moment  not  altogether  unlike  that  of 


86  SENTIMENTS  PROPLU  TO 

Israel  at  the  time  this  portion  of  prophery  was  penned,  perhaps  we 
cannot  better  improve  tiie  present  solemnity  than  by  takinu;  occasion, 
from  the  wonls  before  ns,  to  point  ont  some  of  those  sentiments  and 
views  wliich  appear  in  the  present  crisis  not  to  be  right ;  and,  after 
exploding  these,  to  endeavour  to  substitute  more  correct  ones  in  their 
stead. 

1.  They  vho  content  themselves  with  tracing  national  judgments 
to  their  natural  causes,  without  looking  higher,  entertain  a  view  of  the 
subject  very  inadequate  to  the  demands  of  the  present  season.  AVhen 
vou  have  imputed  to  the  effects  of  an  unparalleled  convulsion  on  the 
Continent,  to  the  relative  situation  of  foreign  powers,  to  the  turbulent 
passions  and  insatiable  ambition  of  an  individual,  the  evils  which 
threaten  us,  what  have  you  done  to  mitigate  those  evils  ?  What 
alleviation  have  you  afforded  to  perplexity  and  distress  ?  They  still  exist 
in  all  their  force.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  attempt  to  discourage  political 
inquiry.  An  inquiry  into  the  sources  of  great  events,  an  attempt  to 
develop  the  more  hidden  causes  which  influence,  under  God,  the 
destiny  of  nations,  is  an  exercise  of  the  mental  powers  more  noble 
than  almost  any  other,  inasmuch  as  it  embraces  the  widest  field,  and 
grasps  a  chain  whose  links  are  the  most  numerous,  comphcated, 
and  subtle.  The  most  profound  political  speculations,  however,  the 
most  refined  theories  of  government,  though  they  establish  the  fame 
of  their  authors,  will  be  found,  perhaps,  to  have  had  very  little  in- 
fluence on  the  happiness  of  nations.  As  the  art  of  criticism  never 
made  an  orator  or  a  poet,  though  it  enables  us  to  judge  of  their  merits, 
so  the  comprehensive  speculation  of  inodern  times,  which  has  reviewed 
and  compared  the  manners  and  institutions  of  every  age  and  country, 
has  never  formed  a  wise  government  or  a  happy  people.  It  arrives 
too  late  for  that  purpose,  since  it  owes  its  existence  to  an  extensive 
survey  of  mankind,  under  a  vast  variety  of  forms,  through  all  those 
periods  of  national  improvement  and  decay  in  which  the  happiest 
efforts  of  wisdom  and  policy  have  been  already  made.  The  welfare 
of  a  nation  depends  much  less  on  the  refined  wisdom  of  the  few  than 
on  the  manners  and  character  of  the  many:  and  as  moral  and  religious 
principles  have  the  chief  influence  in  forming  that  character,  so  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  hand  of  God,  a  deep  sense  of  his  dominion, 
is  among  the  first  of  those  principles.  While  we  attend  to  the  opera- 
tion of  second  causes,  let  us  never  forget  that  there  is  a  Being  placed 
above  them,  who  can  move  and  arrange  them  at  pleasure,  and  in  whose 
hands  they  never  fail  to  accomplish  the  purposes  of  his  unerring 
counsel.  The  honour  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  requires  that  his  supremacy 
should  be  acknowledged,  his  agency  confessed ;  nor  is  there  any 
thing  which  he  more  intends  by  his  chastisements  than  to  extort  this 
confession,  or  any  thing  he  more  highly  resents  than  an  attempt  to 
exclude  him  from  the  concerns  of  his  own  world.  Wo  unto  tliem 
(saith  Isaiah)  that  rise  up  early  in  the  mornmg,  that  they  may  follow 
strong  drink;  that  continue  U7itil  night,  till  tvine  inflame  them!  And 
the  harp  and  the  viol,  the  tahret  and  pipe,  and  wine  are  in  their  feasts  : 
but  they  regard  not  the  work  of  the  Lord,  neither  consider  the  operation 


y 


THE  PRESENT  (.  S-ISIS.  8? 

-f  his  hands*  The  same  prophet  compAms,  that  while  the  hand  of 
Jehovah  was  hfted  up  they  would  not  see  ;  but  he  adds,  they  shall  see 
If  lighter  chastisements  will  not  suffice,  he  has  heavier  in  reserve ;  11 
thej  despise  his  reproofs,  he  will  render  his  anger  with  fury,  his  re- 
bukes with  flames  of  fire.  He  is  resolved  to  overcome  ;  and  what  must 
be  the  issue  of  a  contest  with  Omnipotence  it  is  as  easy  to  foresee  as 
it  is  painful  to  contemplate. 

2.  They  speak  not  aright  who,  instead  of  placing  their  reliance  on 
God  for  safety,  repose  only  on  an  arm  of  flesh. — The  perfect  una- 
nimity which  prevails,  the  ardour  to  defend  every  thing  dear  to  us 
which  is  expressed  by  all  classes,  the  sacrifices  cheerfully  made,  the 
labours  sustained,  and  the  mighty  preparations  by  sea  and  land  M'hich 
the  vigilance  of  government  has  set  on  foot  to  repel  the  enemy  from 
our  coasts,  or  ensure  his  discomfiture  should  he  arrive,  must  be  highly 
satisfactory  to  every  well-disposed  mind.  They  aftbrd,  as  far  as 
human  means  can  afford,  a  well-founded  prospect  of  success.  Though 
there  is,  on  this  account,  no  room  to  despond,  but  much,  on  the 
contrary,  to  lead  us  to  anticipate  a  fixvourable  issue  to  the  contest; 
yet  nothing,  surely,  can  justify  that  language  of  extravagant  boast, 
that  proud  confidence  in  our  national  force,  without  a  dependence  upon 
God,  which,  however  fashionable  it  may  be,  is  as  remote  from  the 
dictates  of  true  courage  as  of  true  piety.  True  courage  is  firm 
and  unassuming:  true  piety,  serious  and  humble.  In  the  midst  of 
all  our  preparations,  we  shall,  if  we  are  wise,  repose  our  chief  confi- 
dence in  Him  who  has  every  element  at  his  disposal ;  who  can  easily 
disconcert  the  wisest  councils,  confound  the  mightiest  projects,  and 
save,  when  he  pleases,  by  many  or  by  few.  While  the  vanity  of 
sueh  a  pretended  reliance  on  Providence  as  supersedes  the  use  of 
means  is  readily  confessed,  it  is  to  be  feared  we  are  not  sufficiently 
careful  to  guard  against  a  contrary  extreme,  in  its  ultimate  effects  not 
less  'dangerous.  If  to  depend  on  the  interposition  of  Providence 
without  human  exertion  be  to  tempt  God;  to  confide  in  an  arm  ol 
flesh,  without  seeking  his  aid,  is  to  deny  him :  the  former  is  to  be 
pitied  for  its  weakness,  the  latter  to  be  censured  for  its  impiety ;  noi 
is  it  easy  to  say  which  affords  the  worst  omen  of  success.  Let  us 
avoid  both  these  extremes ;  availing  ourselves  of  all  the  resources 
which  wisdom  can  suggest  or  energy  produce,  let  us  still  feel 
and  acknowledge  our  absolute  dependence  upon  God.  With  humble 
and  contrite  hearts,  with  filial  confidence  and  affection,  let  us  flee  to 
his  arms,  that  thus  we  may  enjoy  the  united  supports  of  reason  and 
religion ;  and  every  principle,  human  and  divine,  may  concur  to  assure 
us  of  our  safety.  Thus  shall  we  effectually  shun  the  denunciations  so 
frequent  and  so  terrible  contained  in  his  holy  word  against  the  vanity 
of  human  confidences.  Cursed  is  the  man  ivho  trusteth  in  man,  and. 
maketh  flesh  his  arm. 

3.  Their  conduct  is  not  to  be  approved  who,  in  the  present  crisis, 
indnlge  in  wanton  and  indiscriminate  censure  of  the  measures  of  our 

*  Isaiah  V.  11,  12. 


a^  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

rulers  I  say  wanton  and  i?t(liscri7ninatc,  hecnuse  tlic  privilege  ol  ecu 
suriny  witli  luotleratioii  and  decency  tlie  measures  of  government  is 
essential  to  a  free  c-onstilution ;  a  privilege  M'hich  can  never  lose  its 
value  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  till  it  is  licentiously  abused.  The  tem- 
perate exercise  of  this  privilege  is  a  most  useful  restraint  on  those 
errors  and  excesses  to  vliich  the  possession  of  power  supplies  a 
temptation.  The  free  expression  of  the  public  voice  is  capable  of 
overawing  those  who  have  nothing  besides  to  apprehend  ;  and  the 
tribunal  of  public  opinion  is  one  whose  decisions  it  is  not  easy  for  men 
in  the  most  elevated  stations  to  despise.  To  this  we  may  add,  that 
the  unrestrained  discussion  of  national  aflairs  not  only  gives  weight  to 
the  sentiments,  but  is  eminently  adapted  to  enlighten  the  minds  of  a 
people  ;  and,  consequently,  to  increase  that  general  fund  of  talent  and 
information  from  which  the  accomplishments  e\'en  of  statesmen  them- 
selves must  be  ultimately  derived.  AVhile,  therefore,  we  maintain  this 
privilege  with  jealous  care,  let  us  be  equally  careful  not  to  abuse  it. 
Tliere  is  a  respect,  in  my  apprehension,  due  to  civil  governors  on 
account  of  their  office,  which  we  are  not  permitted  to  violate  even 
when  we  are  under  the  necessity  of  blaming  their  measures.  When 
the  apostle  Paul  was  betrayed  into  an  intemperate  expression  of  anger 
against  the  Jewish  high-priest,  from  an  ignorance  of  the  station  he 
occupied,  he  was  no  sooner  informed  of  this,  than  he  apologized,  and 
quoted  a  precept  of  the  Mosaic  law,  which  saj's.  Thou  shalt  not  rcile 
the  gods  nor  curse  the  ruler  of  thy  people.  In  agreement  with  which, 
the  New  Testament  subjoins  to  the  duty  of  fearing  God  that  of  hon- 
ouring the  king ;  and  frequently  and  emphatically  inculcates  sub- 
mission to  civil  rulers,  not  so  much  from  a  fear  of  their  power  as  from 
a  respect  for  their  office. 

The  ancient  prophets,  it  is  true,  in  the  immediate  discharge  of  their 
functions,  appear  to  have  treated  kings  and  princes  with  no  sort  of 
ceremonv.  But  before  we  establish  their  style  into  a  precedent,  let  us 
recollect  they  were  privileged  persons,  speaking  expressly  in  the  name 
of  the  Most  High,  who  gave  them  his  words  and  invested  them  for  the 
moment  with  a  portion  of  his  majesty. 

Apart  from  the  personal  characters  of  rulers,  which  are  fluctuating 
and  variable,  you  will  find  the  apostles  continually  enjoin  respect  to 
government,  as  government,  as  a  permanent  ordinance  of  God,  suscep- 
tible of  various  modifications  from  human  wisdom,  but  essential,  under 
some  form  or  other,  to  the  existence  of  society  ;  and  affording  a  repre- 
sentation, faint  and  inadequate  it  is  true,  but  still  a  representation  of 
the  dominion  of  God  over  the  earth.  The  wisdom  of  resting  the  duty 
of  submission  on  this  ground  is  obvious.  The  possession  of  office 
forms  a  plain  and  palpable  distinction,  liable  to  no  ambiguity  or  dispute. 
Personal  merits,  on  the  contrary,  are  easily  contested,  so  that  if  the 
obligation  of  obedience  were  founded  on  these,  it  would  have  no  kind 
of  force,  nor  retain  any  sort  of  hold  on  the  conscience  ;  the  bonds  of 
social  order  might  be  dissolved  by  an  epigram  or  a  song.  The  more 
liberal  sentiments  of  respect  for  institutions  being  destroyed,  nothing 
would  remain  to  ensure  tranquillity  but  a  servile  fear  of  men.     In  the 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  89 

absence  of  those  sentiments,  as  the  mildest  exertion  of  authority- 
would  be  felt  as  an  injury,  authority  would  soon  cease  to  be  mild  ;  and 
princes  would  have  no  alternative  but  that  of  governing  their  subjects 
with  the  severe  jealousy  of  a  master  over  slaves  impatient  of  revolt : 
so  narrow  is  the  boundary  which  separates  a  licentious  freedom  from 
a  ferocious  tyranny  !  How  incomparably  more  noble,  salutary,  and 
just  are  the  maxims  the  apostles  lay  down  on  this  subject.  Let  every 
soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers :  for  there  is  no  power  but  of 
God :  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God :  whosoever  resisteth 
therefore  the  power  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  they  that  resist 
shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation.  For  rulers  are  not  a  terror  to 
good  works,  but  to  the  evil.  Wilt  thou  then  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  1 
Do  that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same.  For  he 
is  the  minister  of  God  to  tli.ee  for  good.  Wherefore  ye  ?)iust  needs  be 
subject,  not  only  for  ivrath,  but  also  for  conscience^  sake.  We  shall  do 
well  to  guard  agauist  any  system  which  would  withdraw  the  duties 
we  owe  to  our  rulers  and  to  society  from  the  jurisdiction  of  conscience  ; 
that  principle  of  the  mind  whose  prerogative  h  is  to  prescribe  to  every 
other,  and  to  pronounce  that  definitive  sentence  from  which  there  is  no 
appeal.  A  good  man  is  accustomed  to  acquiesce  in  the  idea  of  his 
duties  as  an  \iltimate  object,  without  inquiring  at  every  step  why  he 
should  perform  tliem,  or  amusing  himself  with  imagining  cases  and 
situations  in  which  they  would  be  liable  to  limitations  and  exceptions. 
Instead  of  being  curious  after  these  (for  I  do  not  deny  that  such  excep- 
tions exist),  let  the  great  general  duty  of  submission  to  civil  authority- 
be  engraven  on  our  hearts,  wrought  into  the  very  habit  of  the  mind, 
and  made  a  part  of  our  elementary  morality. 

At  this  season  especially,  when  unanimity  is  so  requisite,  every 
endeavour  to  excite  discontent,  by  reviling  the  character  or  depreciating 
the  talents  of  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  administration,  is 
highly  criminal.  Without  suspicion  of  flattery,  we  may  be  permitted 
to  add,  that  their  zeal  in  the  service  of  their  country  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned ;  that  the  vast  preparations  they  have  made  for  our  defence 
claim  our  gratitude ;  and  that  if,  in  a  situation  so  arduous,  and  in  the 
management  of  affairs  so  complicated  and  difficult,  they  have  com- 
mitted mistakes,  they  are  amply  entitled  to  a  candid  construction  of 
their  measures. 

Having  been  detained  by  these  reflections  somewhat  longer  than 
was  intended,  it  is  high  time  to  return  to  those  religious  considerations 
which  are  more  immediately  appropriate  to  the  present  season.  I 
therefore  proceed  to  add, 

4.  That  they  appear  to  entertain  mistaken  sentiments  who  rely  with 
too  much  confidence  for  success  on  our  supposed  superiority  in  virtue 
to  our  enemies.  Such  a  confidence  betrays  inattention  to  the  actual 
conduct  of  Providence.  Wherever  there  is  conscious  guilt,  there  is 
room  to  apprehend  punishment ;  nor  is  it  for  the  criminal  to  decide 
where  the  merited  punishment  shall  first  fall.  The  cup  of  divine  dis- 
pleasure is,  indeed,  presented  successively  to  guilty  nations,  but  it  by 
no  means  invariably  begins  with  those  who  have  run  the  greatest 


yO  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

career  in  guilt.  On  tlie  conU"\ry,  judgn}C7it  often  begins  at  the  house 
of  God ;  ami  he  iVeqiu-ntly  chastises  his  servants  with  severity  beibre 
lie  proeeeils  to  the  destriK-tion  of  liis  enemies.  He  assured  Abraham 
his  seeil  should  be  alllictcd  in  Egypt  for  four  hundred  years,  and  tlial 
after  their  expiration  the  nation  that  ajflictcd  tJieia  he  -would  judge. 
The  Assyrian  nionarchs,  blind  and  impious  idolaters,  were  permitted 
for  a  louij  periotl  to  oppress  his  chosen  people  ;  after  which,  to  use  his 
own  words,  he  punished  the  fruit  of  the  proud  heart  of  the  king  of 
Babylon;  and  having  accomplished  his  design  in  their  correction,  cast 
the  rod  into  the  lire.  His  conduct  on  such  occasions  resembles  that 
of  a  parent,  who,  full  of  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  children, 
animadverts  upon  faults  in  them,  which  he  sufiers  to  pass  without 
notice  in  persons  for  whom  he  is  less  interested.  Let  us  adore  both 
the  goodness  and  severity  of  God.  The  punishments  which  are 
designed  to  amend  are  inflicted  with  comparative  vigilance  and  speed  ; 
those  which  are  meant  to  destroy  are  usually  long  suspended,  while 
the  devoted  victims  pass  on  with  seeming  impunity. 

But,  independent  of  this  consideration,  that  superiority  in  virtue 
which  is  claimed  may  be  neither  so  great  nor  so  certaiii  as  we  are 
ready  at  first  to  suppose.  To  decide  on  the  comparative  guilt  of  two 
individuals,  much  more  of  two  nations,  demands  a  more  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  circumstances  than  we  are  usually  able  to  obtain.  To 
settle  a  question  of  this  sort,  it  is  not  enough  barely  to  inspect  the 
manners  of  each;  for  the  quality  of  actions,  considered  in  themselves, 
is  one  thing,  and  the  comparative  guilt  of  the  persons  to  whom  they 
belong  is  another.  Before  we  can  determine  such  a  question,  it  is 
necessary  to  weigh  and  estimate  the  complicated  influences  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  the  tendency  of  all  their  institutions,  their  respective 
degrees  of  information,  and  the  comparative  advantages  and  disadvan- 
tages under  which  they  are  placed.  And  who  is  equal  to  such  a 
survey  but  the  Supreme  Judge,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  decide  on  the 
character  both  of  nations  and  individuals  ? 

Our  enemies,  it  is  true,  in  the  moments  of  anarchy  and  madness, 
treated  the  religion  of  Jesus  with  an  ostentation  of  insult ;  but  it  was 
not  till  that  religion  had  been  disguised  and  almost  concealed  from 
their  view  under  a  veil  of  falsehoods  and  impostures.  The  religion 
they  rejected,  debased  by  foreign  infusions,  mingled  with  absurd 
tenets,  trifling  superstitions,  and  cruel  maxims,  retained  scarce  any 
traces  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  The  best  of  men  were  compelled 
to  flee  their  country  to  avoid  its  persecuting  fury,  while  the  souls  under 
the  altar  were  employed  day  and  night  in  accusing  it  before  God. 
Religious  inquiry  was  suppressed,  the  perusal  of  the  word  of  God  dis- 
countenanced, or  rather  prohibited,  and  that  book  to  loose  whose  seals 
the  Lamb  condescended  to  be  slain  impiously  closed  by  those  who 
styled  themselves  its  ministers.  In  this  situation,  it  is  less  surprising 
if  the  body  of  the  people,*  misled  by  pretended  philosophers,  lost  sight 

*  The  author  begs  this  remark  may  be  understood  to  apply  to  the  French  peoi)Ie  only,  and  not  by 
any  means  to  their  infidel  leaders.  Of  the  infidelity  of  the  latter,  there  needs  no  other  solution  to  be 
given  than  the  Scripture  one :  Tkey  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  91 

i)(  tlie  feeble  glimmerings  of  light  which  shone  in  the  midst  of  so  much 
obscurity.  How  far  these  considerations  may  extenuate  before  tlie 
Searcher  of  hearts  the  guilt  of  our  enemies,  it  remains  with  him  to 
determine.  It  is  certain  our  guilt  is  accompanied  with  no  such  extenua- 
tion. With  us  the  darkness  has  long  been  past,  and  the  true  light 
has  arisen  upon  us.  We  have  long  possessed  the  clearest  display  of 
divine  truth,  together  with  the  fullest  liberty  of  conscience.  The 
mysteries  of  the  gospel  have  been  unveiled,  and  its  sanctifying  truths 
pressed  on  the  conscience  by  those  who,  having  received  such  a  minis- 
try, knew  it  to  be  their  duty  to  use  great  plainness  of  speech. 

The  language  of  invective,  it  is  acknowledged,  should  be  as  care- 
fvilly  avoided  in  dispensing  the  word  of  God  as  that  of  adulation ;  but 
may  we  not,  without  reprehension,  ask  whether  it  is  not  a  melancholy 
truth,  that  many  of  us  have  continued,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  light,  un- 
changed and  impenitent ;  that  if  our  enemies,  with  frantic  impiety, 
renounced  the  forms  of  religion,  we  remain  destitute  of  the  power ; 
and  that,  if  they  abandoned  the  Christian  name,  the  name  is  nearly  the 
whole  of  Christianity  to  which  we  can  pretend  1  Still  we  are  ready 
perhaps  to  exclaim  with  the  people  of  Israel  in  the  context,  We  are 
liise,  and  the  law  of  the  Lord  is  toith  us  !  Let  us  hear  the  prophet's 
reply.  Surely  in  vain  hath  he  made  it ;  the  pen  of  the  scribes  is  in  vain. 
That  law  is  most  emphatically  in  vain  which  is  the  subject  of  boast 
without  being  obeyed.  That  dispensation  of  religion,  however  per- 
fect, is  in  vain  which  cherishes  the  pride  without  reforming  the  man 
ners  of  a  people.  Were  we  uideed  a  religious  people,  were  the 
traces  of  Christianity  as  visible  in  our  lives  as  they  are  in  our  creeds 
and  confessions,  we  might  derive  solid  support  from  the  comparison  of 
ourselves  with  others  ;  but  if  the  contrary  be  the  fact,  and  there  art 
with  us,  even  ivith  us,  si?is  against  the  Lord  our  God,  it  will  be  oui 
wisdom  to  relinquish  this  plea  ;  and  instead  pf  boasting  our  superioi 
virtue,  to  lie  low  in  humiliation  and  re.pentance. 

5.  General  lamentations  and  acknowledgments  of  the  corruptions  of 
the  age,  be  they  ever  so  well  founded,  fall  very  short  of  the  real  duties 
of  this  season. — It  is  not  difficult,  however  painful  to  a  good  mind,  to 
descant  on  the  luxury,  the  venality,  the  impiety  of  the  age,  the  irre- 
ligion  of  the  rich,  the  immorality  of  the  poor,  and  the  general  forgetful- 
ness  of  God  which  pervades  all  classes.  Such  topics  it  would  be 
utterly  improper  to  exclude:  but  to  dwell  on  these  alone  answers 
very  little  purpose.  The  sentiments  they  excite  are  too  vague  and 
indistinct  to  make  a  lasting  impression.  To  invest  ourselves  with  an 
imaginary  character  to  represent  the  nation  to  which  we  belong,  and 
combining  into  one  group  the  vices  of  the  times,  to  utter  loud  lamenta- 
tions or  violent  invectives,  is  an  easy  task. 

But  this,  whatever  it  be,  is  not  repentance.  After  bewailing  in  this 
manner  the  sins  of  others,  it  is  possible  to  continue  quite  unconcerned 
about  our  own.  He  M'ho  has  been  thus  employed  may  have  been 
merely  acting  a  part ;  uttering  confessions  in  -which  he  never  meant 
to  take  a  personal  share.  He  Avould  be  mortally  offended,  perhaps, 
to  have  it  suspected  that  he  himself  had  been  guilty  of  any  one  of  the 


92  SENTIMENTiS  PROPER  TO 

sins  lie  has  been  doj>loiiiig,  or  that  he  had  contribiited  in  the  smallest 
decree  to  draw  down  the  jmlijiuents  he  so  solemnly  deprecates.  All 
has  been  transacted  imder  a  leigned  character.  Instead  of  repenting 
hitnsrifofhis  iniquity,  or  saying.  What  have  I  done  ?  he  secretly  prides 
himself  on  his  exemption  from  tlie  general  stain  ;  and  all  the  advantage 
he  derives  from  his  huniiliations  and  confessions  is  to  become  more 
deeply  enamoured  of  the  perfections  of  what  he  supposes  his  real 
character.  To  such  I  would  say,  you  are  under  a  dangerous  delusion  ; 
and  the  manner  in  which  you  perform  the  duties  of  this  season  com- 
pletes that  delusion.  Your  repentance,  your  feigned,  your  theatrical 
repentance  tends  to  ax  you  in  impenitence,  and  your  humiliation  to 
make  you  proud.  Whatever  opinion  you  may  entertain  of  the  character 
of  others,  your  chief  concern  is  at  home.  When  you  have  broken 
ofl"  your  own  sins  by  righteousness,  you  may,  with  a  more  perfect  pro- 
priety, deplore  the  sins  of  the  nation ;  you  may  intercede  for  it  in  your 
prayers,  and,  within  the  limits  of  your  sphere,  edify  it  by  your 
example ;  but  till  you  have  taken  this  first,  this  necessary  step,  you 
have  done  nothing ;  and  should  the  whole  nation  follow  your  example 
and  copy  the  spirit  of  your  devotion,  we  should,  after  all,  remain  an 
impenitent,  and  finally  a  ruined  people. 

Allow  me  here,  though  it  may  be  a  digression,  to  endeavour  the 
correction  of  a  mistake,  which  appears  to  me  to  have  greatly  per- 
plexed, as  well  as  abridged,  the  duties  of  similar  seasons  to  the  present. 
The  mistake  to  which  I  allude  respects  the  true  idea  of  natioiml  sins. 
Many  seem  to  take  it  for  granted,  that  nothing  can  justly  be  deemed 
a  national  sin  but  what  has  the  sanction  of  the  legislature  or  is  com- 
mitted under  public  authority.  When  they  hear,  therefore,  of  national 
sins,  they  instantly  revolve  in  their  minds  something  which  they 
apprehend  to  be  criminal  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs.  That 
iniquity  when  established  by  law  is  more  conspicuous,  that  it  tends  to 
a  more  general  corruption,  and,  by  poisoning  the  streams  of  justice  at 
their  source,  produces  more  extensive  mischief  than  under  any  othei 
circumstances,  it  is  impossible  to  deny.  In  a  country,  moreover, 
where  the  people  have  a  voice  in  the  government,  the  corruption  of 
their  laws  must  first  have  inhered  and  become  inveterate  in  their 
manners. 

Such  corruption  is  therefore  not  so  much  an  instance  as  a  monument 
of  national  degeneracy ;  but  it  by  no  means  follows  that  this  is  the 
only  just  idea  of  national  sins.  National  sins  are  the  sins  of  the 
nation.  The  system  which  teaches  us  to  consider  a  people  as  acting 
merely  through  the  medium  of  prince  or  legislature,  however  useful 
or  necessary'  to  adjust  the  intercourse  of  nations  with  each  other, 
is  too  technical,  too  artificial,  too  much  of  a  compromise  with  the 
imperfection  essential  to  human  affairs,  to  enter  into  the  views  or 
regulate  the  conduct  of  the  Supreme  Being.  He  sees  things  as  they 
are  ;  and  as  the  greater  part  of  the  crimes  committed  in  everj^  country 
are  perpetrated  by  its  inhabitants  in  their  individual  character,  it  i? 
these,  though  not  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  which  chiefly  provoke 
the  divine  judgments. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  93 

To  consider  national  sins  as  merely  comprehending  the  vices  of 
ralers,  or  the  iniquities  tolerated  by  law,  is  to  place  the  duties  of  such 
a  season  as  this  in  a  very  invidious  and  a  very  inadequate  light.  It  is 
to  render  them  invidious :  for  upon  this  principle  our  chiel'  business 
on  such  occasions  is,  to  single  out  for  attack  those  whom  we  are 
commanded  to  obey,  to  descant  on  public  abuses,  and  to  hold  up  to 
detestation  and  abhorrence  the  supposed  delinquencies  of  the  govern- 
ment under  which  we  are  placed.  How  far  such  a  conduct  tends  to 
promote  that  broken  and  contrite  heart  which  is  Heaven's  best  sacrifice, 
it  requires  no  great  sagacity  to  discover. 

It  is,  moreover,  to  exhibit  a  most  inadequate  view  of  the  duties  of 
this  season.  It  confines  humiliation  and  confession  to  a  mere  scant- 
ling of  the  sins  which  pollute  a  nation.  Under  the  worst  goverinuents 
(to.  say  nothing  of  our  own)  the  chief  perversions  of  right  are  not 
found  in  courts  of  justice,  nor  the  chief  outrages  on  virtue  in  the  laws, 
nor  the  greatest  number  of  atrocities  in  the  public  administration. 
Civil  government,  the  great  antidote  which  the  wisdom  of  man  has 
applied  to  the  crimes  and  disorders  that  spring  up  in  society,  can 
scarcely  ever  become,  in  no  free  country  at  least  is  it  possible  for  it 
to  become,  itself  the  chief  crime  and  disorder.  It  may,  on  occasion, 
prescribe  particular  things  that  are  wrong,  and  sometimes  reward 
where  it  ought  to  punish  ;  but  unless  it  bent  its  force,  for  the  most  part, 
to  the  encouragement  of  virtue  and  the  suppression  of  vice ;  unless  the 
general  spirit  of  its  laws  were  in  unison  with  the  dictates  of  conscience, 
it  would  soon  fall  to  pieces  from  intestine  weakness  and  disorder. 

A  last  appeal,  in  all  moral  questions,  lies  to  the  Scriptures,  where 
you  will  invariably  find  the  prophets,  in  their  boldest  paintings  of  na- 
tional vice,  in  their  severest  denunciations  of  divine  anger,  are  so  far 
from  confinhig  their  representation  to  the  conduct  of  rulers,  that  they 
are  seldom  mentioned  in  comparison  of  the  people.  Their  attention 
is  chiefly  occupied  in  depicting  the  corruptions  which  prevailed  in  the 
several  classes  of  the  community,  among  which  the  crimes  of  princes 
and  judges  are  most  severely  reprehended,  not  as  representatives,  but 
as  parts  of  the  whole.  They  knew  nothing  of  that  refinement  by 
which  a  people  are  at  liberty  to  transfer  their  vices  to  their  rulers. 
To  confirm  this  remark  by  adducing  all  the  instances  the  prophecies 
afford  would  be  to  quote  a  great  part  of  the  Old  Testament :  it  is 
sufficient  to  refer  you  to  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  where, 
after  portraying  the  manners  of  the  age  with  the  peculiar  vehemence 
of  style  which  distinguished  that  holy  prophet,  he  closes  his  descrip- 
tion with  these  remarkable  words  :  And  I  sought  for  a  man  among  them 
that  should  make  up  the  hedge,  and  stand  in  the  gap  before  me  for  the 
land,  that  I  should  not  destroy  it ;  but  I  found  none. 

Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  with  vain  words.  The  just  displeasure 
of  God,  as  it  will  by  no  means  spare  the  great,  when  they  are  criminal 
and  impenitent,  so  neither  is  it  excited  by  their  wickedness  alone.  It 
IS  a  fire,  supplied  from  innumerable  sources,  to  which  every  crime 
contributes  its  quota;  and  which  every  portion  of  guilt,  wherever  it 
is  found,  causes  to  bum  with  augmented  violence. 


94  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

llavin;;  thus  oiulo:ivour(Hl  to  expose  those  grou  ids  of  confiilence 
whii'li  appear  repU'te  with  clanger,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  dwell 
long  on  the  remaining  part  of  the  subject.  To  be  aware  of  the  several 
wrong  paths  iiUo  which  we  are  liable  to  be  misled  is  the  principal 
requisite  to  the  linding  out  that  whicli  is  alone  the  true  and  right  one. 

The  lirst  duty  to  wliich  our  situation  summons  us  is  a  devout 
acknowletlgmeut  of  the  hand  of  God.  To  this,  whatever  be  the 
instruments  employed,  religion  instructs  us  ultimately  to  refer  national 
calamities  as  well  as  national  blessings.  That  the  Lord  reigns  is 
one  of  those  truths  which  lie  at  the  very  basis  of  piety;  nor  is  there 
any  more  consoling.  It  fdls  the  heart,  under  a  right  impression  of  it, 
with  a  cheerful  hope  and  unrufllcd  tranquillity,  amid  the  changes  and 
trials  Df  life,  which  we  shall  look  for  in  vain  from  any  other  quarter. 
It  is  this  chiefly  which  formed  and  distinguished  the  ch;iracter  of  those 
who  are  emphatically  said  to  have  walked  with  God.  Important  as 
this  disposition  is,  under  all  circumstances,  it  is  what  more  especially 
suits  the  present  crisis,  and  which  the  events  we  have  witnessed  are 
so  eminently  calculated  to  impress.  The  Psalmist  accounts  for  the 
wicked's  refusing  to  seek  after  God,  from  their  having  no  changes ; 
and  certainly  an  iminterrupted  series  of  prosperity  is  not  favourable 
to  piety.  But  if  we  forget  God,  we  cannot  plead  even  this  slight 
extenuation ;  for  the  times  that  are  passing  over  us,  in  the  solemn 
phrase  of  Scripture,  are  eventful  beyond  all  former  example  or  con- 
ception. The  fearful  catastrophes,  the  strange  vicissitudes,  the  sudden 
revolutions  of  fortune,  w"hich,  tliinly  scattered  heretofore  over  a  long 
tract  of  ages,  poets  and  historians  have  collected  and  exhibited  to  the 
terror  and  the  commiseration  of  mankind,  have  crowded  upon  us  with 
so  strange  a  rapidity,  and  thickened  so  fast,  that  th^y  have  become 
perfectly  familiar,  and  are  almost  numbered  among  ordinary  events. 
Astonishment  has  exhausted  itself;  and  whatever  occurs,  we  cease  to 
be  surprised.  In  short,  every  thing  around  us,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years,  is  so  changed,  that,  did  not  the  stability  of  the  material  form  a 
contrast  to  the  fluctuations  of  the  moral  and  political  world,  we  might 
be  tempted  to  suppose  we  had  been  removed  to  another  state,  or 
that  all  those  things  that  have  happened  were  but  the  illusions  of 
fancy  and  the  visions  of  the  night.  How  consoling,  at  such  a  season, 
to  look  up  to  that  Being  who  is  a  very  present  help  in  trouble,  the 
dwelling-place  of  all  generations ;  who  changes  all  things,  and  is  him- 
self unchanged !  And,  independent  of  its  impiety,  how  cruel  is  that 
philosophy  which,  under  pretence  of  superior  illumination,  by  depriving 
us  of  this  resource,  would  leave  us  exposed  to  the  tossings  of  a  tem- 
pestuous ocean,  without  compass,  v.'ithout  solace,  and  without  hope  ! 

But  besides  this  acknowledgment  of  the  general  administration  of 
the  Deity,  it  behooves  us  to  feel  and  confess,  in  national  calamities,  the 
tokens  of  his  displeasure.  The  evils  which  overtake  nations  are  the 
just  judgments  of  the  Almighty.  I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  disad- 
vantages under  which  we  labour,  wdien  we  insist  on  this  topic,  from  its 
being  so  trite  and  familiar.  Instead  of  troubling  you  with  a  general 
and,  I  fear,  unavailing  descant  on  the  manners  of  the  age,  I  shall  there- 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  95 

fore  content  myself  with  calluig  your  attention  to  a  very  few  of  what 
appear  to  me  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of  national  degeneracy. 
Here  we  shall  not  insist  so  much  on  the  progress  of  infidelity  (though 
much  to  be  deplored)  as  on  an  evil  to  which,  if  we  are  not  greatly 
mistaken,  that  progress  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  :  I  mean  a  gradual 
departure  from  the  peculiar  truths,  maxims,  and  spirit  of  Cln-istianity. 
Christianity,  issuing  perfect  and  entire  from  the  hands  of  its  Author, 
will  admit  of  no  mutilations  nor  improvements  ;  it  stands  most  secure 
on  its  own  basis  ;  and  without  being  indebted  to  foreign  aids,  supports 
itself  best  b^/  its  own  internal  vigour.  AVhen,  under  the  pretence  of 
simplifying  it,  we  attempt  to  force  it  into  a  closer  alliance  with  the 
most  approved  systems  of  philosophy,  we  are  sure  to  contract  its 
bounds,  and  to  diminish  its  force  and  authority  over  the  consciences 
of  men.  It  is  dogmatic  ;  not  capable  of  being  advanced  with  the  pro- 
gress of  science,  but  fixed  and  immutable.  We  may  not  be  able  to 
perceive  the  use  or  necessity  of  some  of  its  discoveries,  but  they  are 
not  on  this  account  the  less  binding  on  our  faith ;  just  as  there  are 
many  parts  of  nature*  whose  purposes  we  are  at  a  loss  to  explore,  of 
which,  if  any  person  were  bold  enough  to  arraign  the  propriety,  it 
would  be  sufficient  to  reply  that  God  made  them.  They  are  both 
equally  the  works  of  God,  and  both  equally  partake  of  the  mysterious- 
ness  of  their  Author.  This  integrity  of  the  Christian  faith  has  been 
insensibly  impaired ;  and  the  simplicity  of  mind  with  which  it  should 
be  embraced  gradually  diminished.  While  the  outworks  of  the  sanc- 
tuary have  been  defended  with  the  utmost  ability,  its  interior  has  been 
too  much  neglected,  and  the  fire  upon  the  altar  suftered  to  languish 
and  decay.  The  truths  and  mysteries  which  distinguished  the  Chris- 
tian from  all  other  religions  have  been  little  attended  to  by  some, 
totally  denied  by  others ;  and  wliile  infinite  efforts  have  been  made 
by  the  utmost  subtlety  of  argumentation  to  establish  the  truth  and 
authenticity  of  revelation,  few  have  been  exerted  in  comparison  to 
show  what  it  really  contains.  The  doctrines  of  the  fall  and  of  redemp- 
tion, which  are  the  two  grand  points  on  which  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation binges,  have  been  too  much  neglected.  Though  it  has  not  yet 
become  the  fashion  (God  forbid  it  ever  should  !)  to  deny  them,  we 
have  been  too  much  accustomed  to  confine  the  mention  of  them  to 
oblique  hints  and  distant  allusions.  They  are  too  often  reluctantly 
conceded  rather  than  warmly  inculcated,  as  though  they  were  the 
weaker  or  less  honourable  parts  of  Christianity,  from  which  we  were 
in  haste  to  turn  away  our  eyes,  although  it  is  in  reality  these  very 
truths  which  have  in  every  age  inspired  the  devotion  of  the  church 
and  the  rapture  of  the  redeemed.     This  alienation  from  the  distin- 

*  "  We  ought  not,"  says  the  great  Bacon,  "  to  attempt  to  draw  down  or  submit  the  mysteries  of 
God  to  our  reason  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  raise  and  advance  our  reason  to  the  divine  truth.  In 
this  par!  of  linowledge,  touching  divine  philosophy,  I  am  so  far  from  noting  any  deliciuncy,  that  I 
rather  note  an  excess;  whereto  I  have  digressed  Ijecausc  of  the  exireme  prejudice  wliich  both  reli- 
gion and  philosophy  have  received  from  being  commixed  together,  as  that  whicti  undoubtedly  will 
make  an  lii;reiical  religion  and  a  fabulous  philosophy." 

This  observation  appears  to  me  to  deserve  the  most  profound  meditation  ;  and  lest  the  remaiks 
on  this  subject  should  ai)pear  presumptuous  from  so  inconsiderable  a  person,  I  thought  it  requisite 
U)  fortify  myself  by  so  great  an  authority. 


98  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TU 

guishing  truths  of  our  holy  rt'ligion  accounts  for  a  portentous  pecu- 
liarity among  Christians,  tlicir  being  ashamed  of  a  book  wliicli  they 
profess  to  receive  as  the  word  of  God.  The  votaries  of  all  other  reli- 
gions regard  their  supposed  sacred  books  with  a  devotion  which  con- 
secrates their  errors,  and  makes  their  very  absurdities  venerable  in 
their  eyes.  They  glory  in  that  which  is  their  slianie  :  we  are  ashamed 
of  that  which  is  our  glory.  Indifference  and  inattention  to  the  truths 
and  mysteries  of  revelation  have  led,  by  an  easy  transition,  to  a  dis- 
like and  neglect  of  tiie  book  which  contains  them  ;  so  that,  in  a  Chris- 
tian country,  nothing  is  thought  so  vulgar  as  a  serious  appeal  to  the 
Scriptures  ;  and  the  candidate  for  fashionable  distinction  would  rather 
betray  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  most  impure  writers  than  with 
the  words  of  Christ  and  his  apostles.  Yet  we  complain  of  the  growth 
of  inlidelity,  when  nothing  less  could  be  expected  than  that  some 
should  dec^lare  themselves  infidels  where  so  fnany  had  completely  for- 
gotten they  were  Christians.  They  wlio  sow  the  seed  can  with  very  ill 
grace  complain  of  the  abundance  of  the  crop  ;  and  when  w-e  have  our- 
selves ceased  to  abide  in  the  words  and  maintain  the  honour  of  the 
Saviour,  we  must  not  be  surprised  at  seeing  some  advance  a  step  fur- 
ther, by  openly  declaring  they  are  none  of  his.  The  consequence 
has  been  such  as  might  be  expected, — an  mcrease  of  profaneness,  im- 
morality, and  irreligion. 

The  traces  of  piety  have  been  wearing  out  more  and  more  from  oai 
conversation,  from  our  manners,  from  our  popular  publications,  from 
the  current  literature  of  the  age.  In  proportion  as  the  maxims  and 
spirit  of  Christianity  have  declined,  infidelity  has  prevailed  in  their 
room ;  for  infidelity  is,  in  reality,  nothing  more  than  a  noxious  spawn 
(pardon  the  metaphor)  bred  in  the  stagnant  marshes  of  corrupted 
Christianity. 

A  lax  theolog}'  is  the  natural  parent  of  a  lax  morality.  The  pecu- 
liar motives,  accordingly,  by  which  the  inspired  writers  enforce  their 
moral  lessons,  the  love  of  God  and  the  Redeemer,  concern  for  the 
honour  of  religion,  and  gratitude  for  the  inestimable  benefits  of  the 
Christian  redemption,  have  no  place  in  tVie  fashionable  systems  of 
moral  instruction.*  The  motives  almost  exclusively  urged  are  such 
as  take  their  rise  from  the  present  state,  founded  on  reputation,  on 
honour,  on  health,  or  on  the  tendency  of  the  things  recommended  to 
promote,  under  some  form  or  other,  the  acquisition  of  worldly  advan- 
tages. Thus  even  morality  itself,  by  dissociatmg  it  from  religion,  is 
made  to  cherish  the  love  of  the  world,  and  to  bar  the  heart  more  effec- 
tually against  the  approaches  of  piety. 

Here  I  cannot  forbear  remarking  a  great  change  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  whole  manner  of  reasoning  on  the  topics  of  morality  and 
religion,  from  what  prevailed  in  the  last  century,  and,  as  far  as  my 
information  extends,  in  any  preceding  age.  This,  which  is  an  age  of 
revolutions,  has  also  produced  a  strange  revolution  in  the  method  of 

*  If  the  reader  wishes  for  a  further  statement  and  illustration  of  these  melancholy  facts,  he  maj 
5nd  it  in  Mr.  Wilberforce's  celebrated  book  on  religion  ;  an  inestimable  work,  which  has,  perhaps 
dfine  more  than  any  other  to  rouse  the  insensibility  and  augment  the  piety  of  the  age. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  97 

viewing  these  subjects,  the  most  important  by  far  that  can  engage  the 
attention  of  man.  The  simplicity  of  our  ancestors,  nourished  by  the 
sincere  milk  of  the  word,  rather  than  by  the  tenets  of  a  disputatious 
philosophy,  was  content  to  let  morality  remain  on  the  firm  basis  of 
the  dictates  of  conscience  and  the  will  of  God.  They  considered 
virtue  as  something  ultimate,  as  bounding  the  mental  prospect.  They 
never  supposed  for  a  moment  there  Avas  any  thing  to  which  it  stood 
merely  in  the  relation  of  a  means,  or  that  within  the  narrow  confines 
of  this  momentary  state  any  thing  great  enough  could  be  found  to  be 
its  end  or  object.  It  never  occurred  to  their  imagination,  that  that 
religion  which  professes  to  render  us  superior  to  the  world  is  in  reality 
nothing  more  than  an  instrument  to  procure  the  temporal,  the  physical 
good  of  individuals  or  of  society.  In  their  view  it  had  a  nobler  des- 
tination ;  it  looked  forward  to  eternity :  and  if  ever  they  appear  to 
have  assigned  it  any  end  or  object  beyond  itself,  it  was  a  union  with 
its  Author  in  the  perpetual  fruition  of  God.  They  arranged  these 
things  in  the  following  order : — religion,  comprehending  the  love,  fear, 
and  service  of  the  Author  of  our  being,  they  placed  first ;  social  morality, 
founded  on  its  dictates,  confirmed  by  its  sanctions,  next ;  and  the  mere 
physical  good  of  society  they  contemplated  as  subordinate  to  both. 
Every  thing  is  now  reversed.  The  pyramid  is  inverted :  the  first  is 
last,  and  the  last  first.  Religion,  is  degraded  from  its  pre-eminence, 
into  the  mere  handmaid  of  social  morality ;  social  morality  into  an 
,instrument  of  advancing  the  welfare  of  society ;  and  the  world  is  all 
in  all.  Nor  have  we  deviated  less  from  the  example  of  antiquity  than 
from  that  of  our  pious  forefathers.  The  philosophers  of  antiquity,  in 
the  absence  of  superior  light,  consulted  with  reverence  the  permanent 
principles  of  nature,  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  the  best  feelings 
of  the  heart,  which  they  employed  all  the  powers  of  reason  and  elo- 
quence to  unfold,  to  adorn,  to  enforce  ;  and  thereby  formed  a  luminous 
commentary  on  the  law  written  on  the  heart.  The  virtue  which  they 
inculcated  grew  out  of  the  stock  of  human  nature  :  it  was  a  warm  and 
living  virtue.  It  was  the  moral  man,  possessing  in  every  limb  and 
feature,  in  all  its  figure  and  movements,  the  harmony,  dignity,  and 
variety  which  belong  to  the  human  form :  an  effort  of  unassisted 
nature  to  restore  that  image  of  God  which  sin  had  mutilated  and 
defaced.  Imperfect,  as  might  be  expected,  their  morality  w^as  often 
erroneous  ;  but  in  its  great  outlines  it  had  all  the  stability  of  the  human 
constitution,  and  its  fundamental  principles  were  coeval  and  coexistent 
with  human  nature.  There  could  be  nothing  fluctuating  and  arbitrary 
in  its  more  weighty  decisions,-  since  it  appealed  every  moment  to  the 
man  within  the  breast :  it  pretended  to  nothing  more  than  to  give  voice 
and  articulation  to  the  inward  sentiments  of  the  heart,  and  conscience 
echoed  to  its  oracles.  This,  wrought  into  different  systems  and  under 
various  modes  of  illustration,  was  the  general  form  which  morality 
exhibited  from  the  creation  of  the  world  till  our  time.  In  this  state 
revelation  found  it ;  and,  correcting  what  was  erroneous,  supplying 
what  was  defective,  and  confirming  what  was  right  by  its  peculiar 
sanctions,  superadded  a  number  of  supernatural  truths  and  holy  mys- 
VoL.  I.— G 


98  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

teries.  How  is  it,  that  on  a  subject  on  Avhich  men  ha>e  thought  dooply 
from  the  inonuMU  thov  liroan  to  think,  and  whoro,  conseqiicnlly,  what- 
ever is  entirely  and  iundamentally  new  must  be  lundamcntally  false  ; 
how  is  it,  that  in  eontrinpt  of  the  experience  of  past  ages,  and  of  all 
precedents  human  and  divine,  we  have  ventured  into  a  perilous  path 
which  no  eve  has  explored,  no  foot  has  trod,  and  have  undertaken, 
after  the  lapse  of  six  thousand  years,  to  vunuifucture  a  morality  of 
our  own,  to  decide  by  a  cold  calculation  of  interest,  by  a  leger-book 
of  profit  and  of  loss,  the  preference  of  tnuh  to  falsehood,  of  piety  to 
blasphemy,  and  of  humanity  and  justice  to  treachery  and  blood  ? 

In  the  science  of  morals  we  are  taught  by  this  system  to  consider 
nothing  as  yet  done ;  Ave  are  invited  to  erect  a  fresh  fabric  on  a  fresh 
foundation.  All  the  elements  and  sentiments  which  entered  into  the 
essence  of  virtue  before  are  melted  down  and  cast  into  a  new  mould. 
Instead  of  appealing  to  any  internal  principle,  every  thing  is  left  to 
calculation  and  determined  by  expediency.  In  executing  this  plan 
the  jurisdiction  of  conscience  is  abolished,  her  decisions  are  classed 
with  those  of  a  superannuated  judge,  and  the  determination  of  moral 
causes  is  adjourned  from  the  interior  tribunal  to  the  noisy  forum  of 
speculative  debate.  Every  thing,  without  exception,  is  made  an  affair 
of  calculation,  under  which  are  comprehended  not  merely  the  duties 
we  owe  to  our  fellow-creatures,  but  even  the  love  and  adoration  which 
the  Supreme  Being  claims  at  our  hands.  His  claims  are  set  aside, 
or  suffered  to  lie  in  abeyance  until  it  can  be  determined  how  far  they 
can  be  admitted  oa  the  principles  of  expediency,  and  in  what  respect 
they  may  interfere  with  the  acquisition  of  temporal  advantages.  Even 
here  nothing  is  yielded  to  the  suggestions  of  conscience,  nothing  to 
the  movements  of  the  heart :  all  is  dealt  out  with  a  sparing  hand, 
under  the  stint  and  measure  of  calculation.  Instead  of  being  allowed 
to  love  God  with  all  our  heart  and  all  our  strength,  the  first  and  great 
commandment,  the  portion  of  love  assigned  him  is  weighed  out  with 
the  utmost  scrupulosity,  and  the  supposed  excess  more  severely  cen- 
sured than  the  real  deficiency. 

Thus,  by  a  strange  inversion,  the  indirect  infiuence  of  Christianity, 
in  promoting  the  temporal  good  of  mankind,  is  mistaken  for  its  prin- 
cipal end ;  the  skirts  of  her  robe  are  confounded  with  her  body,  and 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  co?ne,  instead  of  raising  our  thoughts  and 
contemplations  from  earth  to  heaven,  from  the  creature  to  the  Creator, 
are  made  subservient  to  the  advancement  of  secular  interests  and  pas- 
sions. How  far  these  sentiments  accord  with  the  dictates  of  inspira- 
tion the  most  unlettered  Christian  may  easily  decide.  Love  not  the 
world,  said  the  disciple  who  leaned  on  the  breast  of  his  Lord,  neither 
the  things  that  are  in  the  world;  for  if  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love 
of  the  Father  is  not  in  him.  And  the  world  passeth  away,  and  the 
lusts  thereof ;  hut  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever.  Such 
was  the  idea  entertained  by  an  inspired  apostle  of  Christian  virtue. 
Let  us  now  turn  to  the  modern  philosopher.  Virtue,  he  will  mforra 
us  (including  the  whole  sum  of  our  duties),  is  merely  an  expedient 
for  promoting  the  interests  and  advantages  of  the  present  world — of 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  99 

that  world  which,  in  the  eyes  of  John,  was  passing  away,  and  whose 
value  he  so  solemnly  depreciates.  What  admirable  consistency ! 
What  elevated  theology !  If  we  can  suppose  this  holy  apostle  ac- 
quainted with  what  passes  on  earth,  what  pleasure  it  nmst  afford  his 
glorified  spirit  to  find  his  sentiments  so  well  understood  and  so  faith- 
fully interpreted ! 

In  former  times  it  was  supposed  that  one  of  the  most  effectual  means 
of  improvement  in  virtue  was  the  moral  culture  of  the  heart ;  and  to 
keep  it  with  all  diligence,  because  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life,  was 
thought  an  advice  deserving  the  most  serious  attention.  To  examini'. 
frequently  the  state  of  the  conscience,  and  to  cheek  the  first  risings 
of  disorder  there,  was  judged  to  be  of  the  last  importance. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  moral  discipline  must  fare  under  the  doc 
trine  of  expediency — a  doctrine  which  teaches  man  to  be  looking  con- 
tinually abroad : — a  doctrine  which  not  only  justifies  but  enjoins  a 
distrust  of  the  suggestions  of  the  inward  monitor  ;  which  will  not  per- 
mit the  best  feelings  of  the  heart,  its  clearest  dictates,  its  finest  emo- 
tions, to  have  the  smallest  influence  over  the  conduct ;  and  instead  of 
yielding  any  thing  to  their  direction,  cites  them  at  it«  bar. 

As  this  fashion  of  reducing  every  moral  question  to  a  calculation 
of  expedience  is  a  most  important  innovation,  it  would  be  strange  if 
it  had  not  produced  a  change  in  the  manners  of  society.  In  fact,  it 
has  produced  an  entirely  new  cast  of  character,  equally  remote  from 
the  licentious  gayety  of  high  life  and  the  low  profligacy  which  falls 
under  the  lash  of  the  law  :  a  race  of  men  distinguished  by  a  calm  and 
terrible  ferocity,  resembling  Caesar  in  this  only,  that,  as  it  was  said  of 
him,  they  have  come  with  sobriety  to  the  ruin  of  their  country.  The 
greatest  crimes  no  longer  issue  from  the  strongest  passions,  but  from 
the  coolest  head.  Vice  and  impiety  have  made  a  new  conquest,  and 
have  added  the  regions  of  speculation  to  their  dominion.  The  patrons 
of  impurity  and  licentiousness  have  put.on  the  cloak  of  the  philosopher  : 
maxims  the  most  licentious  have  found  their  way  into  books  of  pre 
tended  morality,  and  have  been  inculcated  with  the  airs  of  a  moral 
sage.*  The  new  doctrine  having  withdrawn  the  attention  from  all 
internal  sentiments  as  well  as  destroyed  their  authority,  the  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong  was  easily  lost  sight  of,  the  boundaries  of 
vice  and  virtue  confounded,  and  the  whole  substance  of  morals  fell  a 
prey  to  contending  disputants.  Nor  is  this  the  only  or  the  worst  con- 
sequence which  has  followed.  A  callous  indifference  to  all  moral 
distinctions  is  an  almost  inseparable  effect  of  the  familiar  application 
of  this  theory.  "Virtue  is  no  longer  contemplated  as  the  object  o*f  any 
particular  sentimc7it  or  feeling,  but  solely  with  regard  to  its  effects  on 
society  :  it  is  what  it  produces,  not  what  it  is,  that  is  alone  considered, 
just  as  an  accountant  is  indifferent  to  the  shape  and  appearance  of  the 
figures,  and  attends  simply  to  their  amount.  Crimes  and  virtues  are 
equally  candidates  for  approbation,  nor  must  the  heart  betray  the  least 
preference,  which  would  be  to  prejudge  the  cause ;  but  must  maintain 

*  The  unholy  speculations  of  Mr  Godwin  wire  founded  entirely  on  this  basis 

G3 


100  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

;i  sacred  neutralitv  till  rxpcdicnco,  M'hosc  hand  never  trembles  in  the 
midst  of  the  greatest  horrors,  has  wcished  in  her  impartial  balance 
their  consequences  and  etFccts.  In  the  mean  time  they  are  eqiially 
caiiilidatrs,  we  repeat  it  aaain,  for  our  approbation,  and  equally  entitled 
to  it,  provided  the  passions  can  be  deceived  into  an  opinion,  and  this 
is  not  ditlicult,  tiial  they  Avill  come  to  the  same  thing  at  the  loot  of  the 
account.  Hence  that  intrepidity  in  guilt  which  has  cased  the  hearts 
of  tjie  greatest  adepts  in  this  system  as  with  triple  brass.  Its  seeds 
were  sown  by  some  of  these  w-ith  an  unsparing  hand  in  France,  a  con- 
genial soil,  wherethev  produced  a  thick  vegetation.  The  consequences 
were  soon  felt.  The  fabric  of  society  tottered  to  its  base,  the  earth 
shook  under  their  feet ;  the  heavens  w  ere  involved  in  darkness,  and  a 
voice  more  audible  than  thunder  called  upon  them  to  desist.  But, 
unmoved  amid  the  uproar  of  elements,  undismayed  by  that  voice  which 
astonishes  nature  and  appals  the  guilty,  these  men  continued  absorbed 
in  their  calculations.  Instead  of  revering  the  judgments,  or  confessing 
the  finger  of  God,  they  only  made  more  haste  (still  on  the  principle 
of  expediency)  to  desolate  his  works  and  destroy  his  image,  as  if  they 
were  apprehensive  the  shades  of  a  premature  night  might  fall  and 
cover  their  victims  ! 

But  it  is  time  to  conclude  this  discussion,  which  has,  perhaps,  already 
fatigued  by  its  length.  I  cannot  help  expressing  my  apprehension, 
that  this  desecration  of  virtue,  this  incessant  domination  of  physical 
over  moral  ideas,  of  ideas  of  expedience  over  those  of  right,  having 
already  dethroned  religion,  and  displaced  virtue  from  her  ancient  basis, 
will,  if  it  is  suffered  to  proceed,  ere  long  shake  the  foundation  of  states 
and  endanger  the  existence  of  the  civilized  world.  Should  it  ever 
become  popular,  should  it  ever  descend  from  speculation  into  common 
life,  and  become  the  practical  morality  of  the  age,  we  may  apply  to 
such  a  period  the  awful  words  of  Balaam: — Who  shall  live  when  God 
doth  this?  No  imagination  can  portray,  no  mind  can  grasp  its  hor- 
rors ;  nor  when  the  angel  in  the  Apocalypse,  to  whom  the  keys  are 
intrusted,  shall  be  commissioned  to  open  the  bottomless  pit,  will  it 
send  forth  a  thicker  cloud  of  pestilential  vapour.  If  the  apparent  sim- 
plicity of  this  system  be  alleged  in  its  favour,  I  would  say,  it  is  the 
simplicity  of  meanness,  a  simplicity  which  is  its  shame,  a  daylight 
which  reveals  its  beggary.  If  an  air  of  obscurity,  on  the  contrary,  is 
objected  against  that  of  better  times,  let  it  be  remembered  that  every 
science  has  its  ultimate  questions,  boundaries  which  cannot  be  passed ; 
and  that  if  these  occur  earlier  in  morals  than  in  other  inquiries,  it  is 
the  rfatural  result  of  the  immensity  of  the  subject,  M'hich,  touching 
human  nature  in  every  point,  and  surrounding  it  on  all  sides,  renders 
it  difficult,  or  rather  impossible,  to  trace  it  in  all  its  relations,  and  vieAV 
it  in  all  its  extent.  Meanwhile,  the  shades  Avhich  envelop,  and  will 
perhaps  always  envelop  it  in  some  measure,  are  not  without  their 
use,  since  they  teach  the  two  most  important  lessons  we  can  learn, — 
the  vanity  of  our  reason,  and  the  grandeur  of  our  destiny. 

It  is  not  improbable  some  may  be  offended  at  the  warmth  and  free- 
dom of  these  remarks  :  my  apology,  however,  rests  on  the  infinite 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  101 

importance  of  the  subject,  my  extreme  solicitude  to  impress  wliat  appear 
to  me  right  sentiments  respecting  it,  together  with  the  consideration, 
that  the  confidence  which  ill  becomes  the  innovators  of  yesterday, 
however  able,  may  be  pardoned  in  the  defendei's,  however  weak,  of  a 
system  which  has  stood  the  test  and  sustained  the  virtue  of  two  thou- 
sand years.*  Let  us  return,  then,  to  the  safe  and  sober  paths  of  our 
ancestors  ;  adhering,  in  all  moral  questions,  to  the  dictates  of  con 
science  regulated  and  informed  by  the  divine  word ;  happy  to  enjoy, 
instead  of  sparks  of  our  own  kindling,  the  benefit  of  those  luminaries 
which,  placed  in  the  moral  firmament  by  a  potent  hand,  have  guided 
the  church  from  the  beginning  in  her  mysterious  sojourn  to  eternity. 
Stand  in  tlie  way,  and  see  ;  and  ask  for  the  old  path,  which  is  the  good 
way,  and  walk  therein;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls. 

■  Instead  of  demolishing  the  temple  of  Christian  virtue  from  a  pre 
sumptuous  curiosity  to  inspect  its  foundations,  let  us  rejoice  they  are 
laid  too  deep  for  our  scrutiny.  Let  us  loorship  in  it ;  and,  along,  with 
the  nations  of  them  that  are  saved,  walk  in  its  light. 

Having  endeavoured  to  point  out  the  source  of  our  degeneracy,  in 
a  departure  from  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  Christianity,  I  hasten  to 
despatch  the  remainder  of  this  discourse ;  nor  will  it  detain  you  long. 

Whoever  has  paid  attention  to  the  manners  of  the  day  must  have 
perceived  a  remarkable  innovation  in  the  use  of  moral  terms,  in  which 
we  have  receded  more  and  more  from  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Of 
this  the  term  employed  to  denote  a  lofty  sentiment  of  personal  supe- 

*  The  system  which  founds  morality  on  utility,  a  utility,  let  it  be  always  remembered,  confined 
to  the  purjjoses  of  the  present  world,  issued  with  ill  omen  from  the  school  of  infidelity.  It  was  first 
broached,  I  believe,  certainly  first  brought  into  general  notice,  by  Mr.  Hume,  in  his  Treatise  on 
Morals,  which  he  himself  pronounced  incomparably  the  btst  he  ever  wrote.  It  was  incomparably 
the  best  for  his  purpose ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  imagine  a  mind  so  acute  as  his  did  not  see  the  effect  it 
would  liave  in  setting  morality  and  religion  afloat,  and  substituting  for  the  stability  of  principle  the 
looseness  of  speculation  and  opinion.  It  has  smce  been  rendered  popular  by  a  succession  of  emi- 
nent writers  ;  by  one  especially  (I  doubt  not  with  intentions  very  foreign  from  those  of  Mr.  Ilumei, 
whose  great  services  to  religion  in  other  respects,  togellier  with  my  high  reverence  for  his  talents, 
prevent  me  from  naming.  This  venerable  author, It  is  probable,  little  suspected  to  what  lengths 
the  principle  would  be  carried,  or  to  what  purposes  it  would  be  applied  in  other  hands.  Had  he 
foreseen  this,  I  cannot  but  imagine  he  would  have  spared  this  part  of  his  acute  speculations. 

We  have,  happily,  preserved  to  us  from  antiquity  two  complete  Treatises  on  Morals,  in  which 
tlie  authors  profess  to  give  us  a  complete  view  of  our  duties ;  the  one  compo.sed  by  the  greatest 
master  of  reason,  the  other  of  eloquence,  the  world  ever  saw.  The  first  of  these  has  distinguished, 
classified,  and  arranged  the  elements  of  social  morality,  which  is  all  he  could  reach  in  the  absence 
of  revelation,  with  that  acutene.ss,  subtilty,  and  precision  for  which  he  was  so  eminently  distin- 
guished. Whoever  attentively  peruses  his  Treatise,  the  Nicomachian  Morals,  I  mean,  will  find  a 
perpetual  reference  to  the  inward  sentiments  of  the  breast.  He  builds  every  thing  on  the  human 
const.lution.  He  all  along  takes  it  for  granted  that  there  is  a  moral  impress  on  the  mind,  to  which, 
without  looking  abroad,  we  may  safely  appeal.  In  a  word,  Aristotle  never  lost  the  moralist  in  the 
accountant.  He  has  been  styled  the  interpreter  of  Nature,  and  has  certainly  shown  himself  a  most 
able  commentator  on  the  law  written  on  the  heart.  For  Cicero,  in  all  his  philosophical  works,  as 
well  as  in  his  Offices,  where  he  treats  more  directly  on  these  subjects,  shows  the  most  e.vtreme 
solicitude,  as  though  he  had  a  prophetic  glance  of  what  was  to  hapjien,  to  keep  the  moral  and  natural 
world  apart,  to  assert  the  supremacy  of  virtue,  and  to  recognise  those  sentiments  and  vestiges  from 
which  he  educes,  with  the  utmost  elevation,  the  contempt  of  human  things.  How  humiliating  the 
«onsideration,  that  with  superior  advantages,  our  moral  systems  should  be  infinitely  surpassed  in 
warmth  and  grandeur  by  those  of  pagan  times ;  and  that  the  most  jejune  and  comfortless  that  ever 
entered  the  mind  of  man,  and  the  mosF  abhorrent  from  the  spirit  of  religion,  should  have  ever  become 
popular  in  a  Christian  country  I  This  departure  from  the  precedents  of  antiquity  will  not,  by  those 
who  are  capable  of  forming  a  judgment,  be  easily  iiriputed  to  the  superiority  of  our  talents  ;  it  is 
rather  the  result  of  that  tendency  to  degradation  whicli  has  long  marked  our  progress.  Along  with 
the  simplicity  of  faith  and  a  reverence  lor  the  Scriptures,  our  respect  for  the  dignity  (rightly  under- 
stood) of  human  nature,  and  tenderness  tor  its  best  Interests,  have  been  gradually  impaired.  A 
fearlessness  of  consequences,  a  hardihood  of  mind,  a  disposition  to  sacrifice  every  thing  to  origin- 
ality, or  to  a  pretended  piiilosophical  precision,  have  succeeded  in  their  place.  This,  in  my  humbit 
opinion,  has  been  the  great  bane  of  modern  speculation;  and  has  rendered  so  much  of  it  wild, 
ferocious,  and  destructive. 


102  SENTIMENTS   PROPER  TO 

rioritv  supplies  an  obvious  instance.  In  the  current  language  of  the 
times,  priilr  is  scarcely  ever  used  but  in  a  favourable  sense.  It  will, 
perhaps,  be  thought  the  mere  cliange  oi"  a  term  is  of  little  consequence ; 
but  be  it  remembered,  that  any  remarkable  innovation  in  the  use  of 
moral  terms  betrays  a  proportionable  change  in  tlie  ideas  and  feelings 
they  are  intended  to  denote.  As  pride  has  been  transferred  from  the 
list  of  vices  to  that  of  virtues,  so  humility,  as  a  natural  consequence, 
has  been  excluded,  and  is  rarely  sufi'ered  to  enter  into  tiie  praise  of  a 
character  we  wish  to  commend,  altliough  it  was  the  leading  feature  in 
that  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  is  still  the  leading  characteristic 
of  his  religion ;  while  there  is  no  vice,  on  the  contrary,  against 
which  the  denunciations  are  so  frequent  as  pride.  Our  conduct  in  this 
instance  is  certainly  rather  extraordinary,  both  in  w^hat  we  have  em- 
braced and  in  what  we  have  rejected  ;  and  it  will  surely  be  confessed, 
we  are  somewhat  unfortunate  in  having  selected  that  vice  as  the  par- 
ticular object  of  approbation  which  God  had  already  selected  as  the 
especial  mark  at  wliich  he  aims  the  thunderbolts  of  his  vengeance. 

Another  symptom  of  degeneracy  appears  in  the  growing  disregard 
to  the  external  duties  of  religion ;  the  duties  more  especially  of  the 
Lord's  dav,  and  of  public  worship.  It  is  supposed  by  such  as  have  the 
best  means  of  information,  that  throughout  the  kingdom  the  number 
who  regularly  assemble  for  worship  is  far  inferior  to  those  who  neglect 
it ;  that  in  our  great  towns  and  cities  they  are  not  one-fourth  of  the 
people,  and  in  the  metropolis  a  much  smaller  proportion.  It  is  easy 
to  foresee  how  the  leisure  afforded  by  the  Christian  Sabbath  will  be 
employed  by  those  who  utterly  forget  the  design  of  its  institution.  It  is 
somewhat  remarkable  that  here  the  extremes  meet,  and  that  the  public 
duties  of  religion  are  most  slighted  by  the  highest  and  the  lowest 
classes  of  society :  by  the  former,  I  fear,  from  indolence  and  pride ; 
by  the  latter,  from  ignorance  and  profligacy. 

Too  many  of  the  first  description,  when  they  do  attend,  it  is  in  such 
a  manner  as  makes  it  evident  they  esteem  it  merely  an  act  of  con- 
descension, to  which  they  submit  as  an  example  to  their  inferiors, 
who,  penetrating  the  design,  and  imitating  their  indifference  rather 
than  their  devotion,  are  disgusted  with  a  religion  which  they  perceive 
has  no  hold  on  their  superiors,  and  is  only  imposed  upon  themselves 
as  a  badge  of  inferiority  and  a  muzzle  of  restraint.  Could  the  rich 
and  noble  be  prevaded  upon  for  a  moment  to  attend  to  the  instructions 
ol  their  Lord,  instead  of  making  their  elevated  rank  a  reason  for  neg- 
lecting these  duties,  they  w^ould  learn  that  there  are  none  to  whom  they 
are  so  necessar}^ ;  smce  there  are  none  whose  situation  is  so  perilous, 
whose  responsibility  is  so  great,  and  whose  salvation  is  so  arduous. 

Here  fidelity  compels  me  to  advert  to  a  circumstance  w^hich  I  men- 
tion with  sincere  reluctance,  because  it  implies  something  like  a  censure 
on  the  conduct  of  those  Avhom  it  is  our  duty  to  respect.  You  are 
probably  aware  I  mean  the  assigning  part  of  the  Sunday  to  military/ 
exercises.  When  we  consider  how  important  an  institution  the  Christian 
Sabbath  is,  how  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  public  worship,  which 
is  itself  essential  to  religion,  and  Avhat  a  barrier  it  opposes  to  the 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  lOi 

impiety  and  immorality  of  the  age  ;  is  it  not  to  be  lamented  that  it 
should  ever  have  been,  in  the  smallest  degree,  infringed  by  legislative 
authority  ?  The  rest  of  the  Sabbath  had  been  already  too  much  vio- 
lated, its  duties  too  much  neglected ;  but  this  is  the  first  instance  of 
the  violation  of  it  being  publicly  recommended  and  enjoined,*  at  a 
time  too  when  we  are  engaged  with  an  enemy  whose  very  name  con- 
veys a  warning  against  impiety.  Our  places  of  worship  have  beer 
thinned  by  the  absence  of  those  who  have  been  employed  in  military 
evolutions,  and  of  a  still  greater  number  of  gazers,  whom  such  spec- 
tacles attract.  Nor  is  the  time  lost  from  religious  duties  so  much  to 
be  considered  as  that  tumult  and  hurry  of  mind,  utterly  incompatible 
with  devotion,  which  are  inseparable  from  military  ideas  and  prepara- 
tions. Surely  it  could  never  be  the  intention  of  the  legislature,  though 
such  has  been  the  effect,  to  detach  the  defenders  of  their  country  from 
the  worshippers  of  God  :  nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  they  adverted  to  the 
influence  which  a  precedent  of  such  high  authority  must  have  in 
divesting  the  Sabbath  of  its  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  of 
establishing  the  fatal  epoch  whence  it  was  no  longer  to  be  revered  as 
the  ordinance  of  Heaven.  They  had,  we  will  believe,  no  such  inten- 
tion ;  but  the  innocence  of  the  intention  abates  nothing  of  the  mischief 
of  the  precedent. 

As  it  is  foreign  from  my  purpose  to  make  a  complete  enumeration 
of  national  sins,  which  would  not  only  be  a  most  painful  task  in  itself, 
but  quite  incompatible  with  the  limits  of  this  discourse,  I  shall  content 
myself  with  the  mention  of  one  more  proof  of  the.  degeneracy  of  our 
manners.  This  proof  is  found  in  that  almost  imiversal  profaneness 
which  taints  our  daily  intercourse,  and  which  has  risen  to  such  a  height 
as  to  have  become  a  melancholy  characteristic  of  our  country.  In  no 
nation  under  heaven,  probably,  has  the  profanation  of  sacred  terms 
been. so  prevalent  as  in  this  Christian  land.  The  name  even  of  the 
Supreme  Being  himself,  and  the  words  he  has  employed  to  denounce 
the  punishments  of  die  impenitent,  are  rarely  mentioned  but  in  anger 
or  in  sport ;  so  that  were  a  stranger  to  our  history  to  witness  the  style 
of  our  conversation,  he  would  naturally  infer  we  considered  religion  as 
a  detected  imposture ;  and  that  nothing  more  remained  than,  in  return 
for  tlie  fears  it  had  inspired,  to  treat  it  with  the  insult  and  derision  due 
to  a  fallen  tyrant.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  a  practice  which  grati- 
fies no  passion  and  promotes  no  interest,  unless  we  ascribe  it  to  a 
certain  vanity  of  appearing  superior  to  religious  fear,  which  tempts 
men  to  make  bold  with  their  Maker.  If  there  are  hypocrites  in  reli- 
gion, there  are  also,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  hypocrites  in  impiety, — 
men  who  make  an  ostentation  of  more  irreligion  than  they  possess. 
An  ostentation  of  this  nature,  the  most  irrational  in  the  records  of 
human  folly,  seems  to  lie  at  the  root  of  profane  swearing.  It  may  not 
be  improper  to  remind  such  as  indulge  this  practice,  that  tliey  need  not 
insult  their  Maker  to  show  that  tliey  do  not  fear  him  ;  that  they  may 
relinquish  this  vice  without  danger  of  being  supposed  to  be  devout, 

•  Tlie  Book  of  Sports,  in  Charles  the  Second's  reign,  is  not  an  exception,  as  this,  though  sullicientiv 
censurable,  was  not  considered  as  a  violation  of  the  Sabbath  conside  ed  as  a  day  of  rest. 


104  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

and  that  tlicy  may  safely  leave  it  to  otlier  parts  of  their  conduct  trt 
effaee  the  sinaHesi  suspicion  of  their  piety.  To  view  this  practice  in 
the  most  favourable  liiiht,  it  indicates,  as  has  been  observed  by  a  great 
living  writer,*  "  a  mind  over  which  religious  considerations  have  little 
uithience."  It  also  sudiciently  accounts  for  Uuit  propensity  to  ridicidc 
piety  which  is  one  of  our  national  peculiarities.  It  would  be  uncandid 
to  suppose,  that  at  the  best  times  there  was  more  piety  on  the  Continent 
tlian  here :  be  this  as  it  may,  it  never  appears  to  have  exposed  its 
possessors  to  contempt ;  nor  was  the  sublime  devotion  of  Fenelon  and 
of  Pascal  ever  considered  as  forming  a  shade  to  their  genius.  The 
reverence  for  religion  had  not  been  worn  away  by  the  familiar  abuse 
of  its  peculiar  terms. 

It  will  be  expected  something  should  be  said  on  the  slave-trade.  Its 
enormity  no  words  can  express.  But  here  we  must  feel  a  mixture  of 
satisfaction  and  regret ; — of  satisfaction,  at  finding  it  has  excited  such 
general  indignation  among  the  people  ;  of  regret,  that  notwithstanding 
this,  it  should  still  be  continued..  By  the  most  earnest  and  unanimous 
remonstrances,  addressed  to  those  who  alone  coidd  abolish  it,  the  peo- 
ple have  purged  themselves  from  this  contamination.  Their  applica- 
tion was  unsuccessful.  The  giiilt  and  turpitude  of  this  traffic  now  rest 
upon  the  heads  of  those  who  sanction  and  of  those  who  conduct  it. 
From  some  recent  events  in  the  western  colonies,  it  seems  not  unlikely 
the  Deity  is  about  to  take  this  afiair  into  his  own  hands,  and  to  accom- 
plish by  his  interposition  wdiat  has  been  denied  to  the  prayer  of  the 
nation. 

It  is  far  from  being  a  pleasing  employ  ;  it  is  painful,  it  is  distressing, 
to  dwell  on  such  topics  ;  but  it  is  necessary.  Our  disease  has  gone 
too  far  to  admit  of  palliatives ;  our  wounds  are  too  deep  to  be  healed 
till  they  are  searched  and  probed  to  the  bottom.  The  only  safe  expe- 
dient which  remains  to  be  adopted  is  an  immediate  return  to  God ;  to 
forsake  every  one  his  evil  way,  and  the  violence  that  is  in  his  hands, 
and  cry  mightily  to  him :  and  who  can  tell,  if  God  will  turn  and  repent, 
and  turn  away  his  fierce  anger  from  us  ?  At  the  same  time,  let  it  be 
remembered  that  repentance  is  a  personal  concern.  Instead  of  losing 
ourselves  in  a  crowd,  and  resting  in  general  confessions,  we  ought  each 
one  to  examine  his  own  ways  and  turn  from  his  own  iniquity.  We 
shall  not  fail  if  we  have  the  least  piety  to  lament  the  prevalence  of  sin 
around  us,  but  we  can  repent  only  of  our  own :  and  however,  in  the 
present  mixed  and  imperfect  state,  we  may  share  in  the  judgments  and 
calamities  which  other  men's  sins  draw  down,  it  is  those  we  commit 
ourselves  which  alone  can  do  us  ultimate  injury.  Our  continuance 
here  is  but  for  a  short  time  ;  after  which  as  many  as  are  purified  and 
made  vjhite  will  remove  into  another  world,  be  placed  under  a  higher 
economy,  and  be  put  in  possession  of  a  kingdom  that  cannot  be  moved. 

Let  me  remind  you  that  repentance  is  a  duty  of  greater  extent  than 
many  are  apt  to  suppose,  who,  confining  their  view,  on  such  occasions 
is  these,  to  a  few  of  the  grosser  disorders  of  their  lives,  pay  little 
attention  to  the  heart :  they  are  satisfied  with  feehng  a  momentarv 

*  Dr.  Paley. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  105 

compunction  and  attempting  a  partial  reformation,  instead  of  crying 
with  the  royal  penitent,  create  in  me  a  dean  heart !  They  determine 
to  break  off  particular  vices, — an  excellent  resolution  as  far  as  it  goes, 
— without  proposing  to  themselves  a  life  of  habitual  devotion,  without 
imploring,  under  a  sense  of  weakness,  that  grace  which  can  alone 
renew  the  heart,  making,  in  the  words  of  our  Lord,  the  tree  good,  that 
the  fruit  may  be  good  also.  Let  it  cost  us  what  uneasiness  it  may, 
let  us  resolve  at  the  present  season  to  examine  our  ways,  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  state  of  our  consciences,  to  enter  with  the  candle 
of  the  Lord  into  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  heart,  and  the  chambers  of 
imagery,  whatever  disorder  or  defilement  they  may  conceal,  or  what- 
ever alarm  the  knowledge  of  ourselves  may  excite  ;  since  to  be 
apprized  of  danger  is  the  first  step  to  safety,  and  it  will  be  infinitely 
better  for  us  to  judge  and  accuse  ourselves  now,  than  to  be  judged  and 
condemned  hereafter.  Happy  those  to  whom  a  seasonable  alarm 
shall  suggest  the  means  of  a  perpetual  security.  We  need  be  under  no 
apprehension  lest  the  cherishing  of  the  sentiments  we  have  recom- 
mended should  lead  to  despondency.  We  have  a  High-priest,  who 
through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  without  spot  to  God.  \\\  the 
midst  of  the  deepest  humiliation  we  are  invited  to  look  up  to  him  with 
an  humble  reliance  on  the  efficacy  of  his  blood  which  cleanses  from  all 
sin ;  and  to  intrust  our  prayers  and  our  duties,  disordered  and  imper- 
fect at  best,  into  his  hands,  that  he  may  mingle  them  with  the  incense 
of  his  intercession,  and  present  them  with  acceptance  before  God. 

When  Nineveh  was  threatened  with  destruction  by  the  prophet 
Jonah,  tidings  were  brought  to  the  king,  who  proclaimed  a  fast.  Pene- 
trated with  the  profoundest  awe  of  the  divine  displeasure,  he  enjoined 
a  rigorous  abstinence  from  food,  which  extended  even  to  the  brute 
creation,  who  were  also  commanded  to  be  covered  with  sackcloth 
For  in.  the  eyes  of  that  penitent  prince  it  seemed  proper  that  every 
thing  should  wear  an  air  of  mourning  and  desolation,  while  it  lay  under 
the  frown  of  its  Maker.  He  himself  rose  from  his  throne,  laid  hii 
robe  fro?n  hiin,  and  covered  hi?n  loith  sackcloth,  and  sat  in  ashes.  He 
rightly  judged  that  the  glitter  of  state,  the  distinctions  of  rank,  and  the 
splendour  of  royalty  should  disappear  at  a  moment  when  all  cla5ses 
were  alike  awaiting  their  doom ;  at  a  moment  when  the  greatest  as 
well  as  the  least  were  made  to  feel  they  were  potsherds  of  the  earth, 
ready  to  be  crumbled  into  dust.  Such  exemplary  humiliation  averted 
the  divine  anger,  and  Nineveh  was  spared.  If  our  gracious  sovereign 
has  (as  we  humbly  believe)  descended  this  day  from  his  elevation, 
and  laying  aside  his  robes,  humbled  himself  in  the  dust  before  the 
Majesty  of  Heaven  ;  if  his  nobles  have  followed  his  example,  and  the 
people  have  resolved  to  turn  every  one  from  his  evil  way,  the  duties  of 
the  season  will  afford  a  surer  defence  than  all  our  military  prepara- 
tions :  our  salvation  will  issue  from  the  Being  whose  fre  is  in  Zion, 
and  whose  furnace  is  in  Jerusalem. 

As  a  people,  the  most  certain  means  of  ensuring  lasting  prosperity, 
and  of  enabling  us  to  transmit,  unimpaired,  to  those  who  shall  succeed 
us  the  rich  inheritance  devolved  from  our  fathers,  will  be  a  speedy 


100  SENTIMENTS  ]!»ROPER  TO 

return  to  the  spirit  and  practice  of  the  frospel.  We  shall  ill  consult 
the  true  interests  of  revelation  by  (lisguisino  its  peculiarities,  in  hope 
of  conciliating  the  approbation  of  inddcls,  and  of  adapting  it  more  to 
their  tasie — a  mistaken  and  dangerous  policy,  by  which  Ave  run  immi- 
nent risk  of  catching  ///(/;•  contagion,  witiiout  imparting  the  benefit  of 
its  truths.  Let  us  not  for  a  moment  blench  from  its  mysteries  :  they 
MC  t/ii/stcrics  of  godliness ;  and,  however  much  they  may  surpass 
human  reason,  bear  the  distinct  impress  of  a  divine  hand.  We  rejoice 
that  they  are  mysteries,  so  far  from  being  ashamed  of  them  on  that 
account ;  since  the  principal  reason  why  they  are  and  must  ever  con- 
tinue such,  is  derived  from  their  elevation,  from  their  unsearchable 
riches,  and  undefinable  grandeur.  In  fine,  let  us  draw  our  religion  and 
morality  entirely  from  the  word  of  God,  without  seeking  any  deeper 
foundation  for  our  duties  than  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Being,  an 
implicit  and  perfect  acquiescence  in  which  is  the  highest  virtue  a 
creature  can  attain. 

Amid  many  unfavourable  symptoms  of  the  state  of  morals  among 
us,  there  are  others  of  a  contrary  nature.  We  may  hope  infidelity  has 
nearly  run  its  length.  In  truth,  its  sophistry,  in  the  eyes  of  men  of 
sense,  has  been  much  discredited  by  the  absurdity  of  its  tenets  ;  and 
if  any  have  been  in  danger  of  being  seduced  by  the  talents  of  its  advo- 
cates, they  have  commonly  found  a  sufficient  antidote  in  their  lives. 
We  have  learned  to  prize  revelation  more  than  ever  since  we  have 
seen  the  ludicrous  mistakes  as  well  as  serious  disasters  of  those 
mystics  of  impiety  who  chose  rather  to  walk  by  an  internal  light 
than  enjoy  the  benefits  of  its  illumination.  They  have  edified  us 
much  without  intending  it :  they  have  had  the  effect  which  the  gi-eat 
critic  of  antiquity  assigns  as  the  purpose  of  the  tragic  Muse,  that  of 
purifying  the  heart  by  pity  and  terror.  Their  zeal  has  excited  an 
equal  degree  of  ardour  in  a  better  cause,  and  their  efforts  to  extirpate 
religion  have  been  opposed  by  contrary  efforts,  to  diffuse  its  influence 
at  home  and  abroad,  to  a  degree  unexampled  in  modern  times.  A 
growing  unanimity  has  prevailed  among  the  good  in  different  parties, 
who,  finding  a  centre  of  union  in  the  great  truths  of  revelation,  and  in 
a  solicitude  for  its  interests,  are  willing  to  merge  their  smaller  differ- 
ences in  a  common  cause.  The  number  of  the  sincerely  pious,  we 
trust,  is  increasing  among  us,  whose  zeal,  so  far  from  suffering  abatement 
from  the  confidence  of  infidelity,  has  glowed  with  a  purer  and  more 
steady  flame  than  ever.  These  are  pleasing  indications  that  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Holt/  One  of  Israel  is  still  in  the  midst  of  us. 

How  it  may  please  the  Ruler  of  the  universe  to  dispose  the  destinies 
of  the  two  most  powerful  nations  of  the  earth,  which  are  at  this  moment 
laid  in  the  balance  together,  it  is  impossible  for  us  with  certainty  to 
predict.  But  when  we  consider  how  many  of  his  sincere  worshippers, 
how  large  a  portion  of  his  church,  together  with  how  rich  a  fund  of 
wisdom,  of  talents,  and  of  all  those  elements  of  social  order  and  happi- 
ness which  he  must  approve,  are  enclosed  withm  the  limits  of  this 
highly  favoured  land,  we  cannot  oelieve  he  intends  to  give  it  up  a  prey 
to  his  enemies.     Our  insular  situation  is  favourable,  our  resources 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIJS.  107 

prodigious,  and  tlie  preparations  which  have  long  been  making  appa- 
rently every  way  equal  to  the  danger  of  the  crisis  :  but  still  we  would 
place  our  ultimate  reliance  on  Him  who  abases  the  proud  and  exalts 
the  lowly.  It  would  be  presumption  to  imagine  it  in  my  power  to  add 
any  thing  to  those  considerations  which  have  already  produced  such 
a  general  movement  in  defence  of  our  liberties.  The  cause  speaks  for 
itself:  it  excites  feelings  which  words  are  ill  able  to  express  ;  involving 
every  object  and  motive  which  can  engage  the  solicitude,  affect  the 
interests,  or  inflame  the  heart  of  man.  After  a  series  of  provocations 
and  injuries  reciprocally  sustained  and  retaliated,  the  dispute  between 
us  and  our  enemies  is  brought  to  a  short  issue ;  it  is  no  longer  which 
of  the  two  nations  shall  have  the  ascendant,  but  which  shall  continue 
a  nation  :  it  is  a  struggle  for  existence,  not  for  empire.  It  must  surely 
be  regarded  as  a  happy  circumstance  that  the  contest  did  not  take  this 
shape  at  an  earlier  period,  while  many  were  deceived  by  certain  spe- 
cious pretences  of  liberty  into  a  favourable  opinion  of  our  enemies' 
designs.  The  popular  delusion  is  past;  the  most  unexampled  pro- 
digies of  guilt  have  dispelled  it ;  and,  after  a  series  of  rapine  and 
cruelty,  have  torn  from  every  heart  the  last  fibres  of  mistaken  partiality. 
The  crimes  of  those  with  whom  we  have  to  contend  are  legible  in 
every  part  of  Europe.  There  is  scarcely  a  man  to  be  found  who  is 
not  most  perfectly  acquainted  with  the  meaning  of  that  freedom  they 
profess  to  bestow  ;  that  it  is  a  freedom  from  the  dominion  of  laws  to 
pass  under  the  yoke  of  slavery,  and  from  the  fear  of  God  to  plunge 
into  crimes  and  impiety ;  an  impious  barter  of  all  that  is  good  for  all 
that  is  ill,  through  the  utmost  range  and  limits  of  moral  destiny.  Nor 
is  it  less  easy  to  develop  the  character  of  our  principal  enemy.  A 
man  bred  in  the  school  of  ferocity,  amid  the  din  of  arms  and  the  tumult 
of  camps ;  his  element,  war  and  confusion ;  who  has  changed  his 
religionvvith  his  uniform,  and  has  not  spared  the  assassination  of  his 
own  troops  ;  it  is  easy  to  foresee  what  treatment  such  a  man  will  give 
to  his  enemies  should  they  fall  into  his  power ;  to  those  enemies 
especially  who,  saved  from  the  shipwreck  of  nations,  are  preserving, 
as  in  an  ark,  the  precious  remains  of  civilization  and  order ;  and  whom, 
after  destroying  the  liberties  of  every  other  country,  he  envies  the 
melancholy  distinction  of  being  the  only  people  he  has  not  enslaved. 
Engaged  with  such  an  enemy,  no  weak  hopes  of  moderation  or  clem- 
ency can  tempt  us  for  a  moment  to  relax  in  our  resistance  to  his  power ; 
and  the  only  alternative  which  remains  is,  to  conquer  or  to  die. 

Hence  that  unexampled  unanimity  which  distinguishes  the  present 
season.  In  other  wars  we  have  been  a  divided  people :  the  effect  of 
our  external  operations  has  been  in  some  measure  weakened  by  intes- 
tine dissension.  When  peace  has  returned  the  breach  has  widened, 
while  parties  have  been  formed  on  the  merits  of  particular  men,  or  of 
particular  measures.  These  have  all  disappeared;  we  have  buried 
our  mutual  animosities  in  a  regard  to  the  common  safety.  The  sen- 
timent of  self-preservation,  the  first  law  which  nature  has  impressed, 
has  absorbed  every  other  feeling ;  and  the  fire  of  liberty  has  melted 
tlown  the  discordant  sentiments  and  minds  of  the  British  empire  int« 


108  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

Olio  mass,  and  propelled  them  in  one  direction.  Partial  interests  and 
leelings  are  suspended,  the  spirits  of  tlie  body  are  collected  at  the 
heart,  and  we  are  awaiting  witli  anxiety,  but  witliout  dismay,  the  dis- 
charge ot'  tliat  miglify  tempest  whicli  hangs  upon  the  skirts  of  the 
horizon,  anil  to  which  the  eyes  of  Europe  and  of  the  world  are  turned 
in  silent  and  aAvful  expectation.  While  we  feel  solicitude  let  us  not 
betray  dejection,  nor  be  alarmed  at  the  past  successes  of  our  enemy, 
which  arc  more  dangerous  to  himself  than  to  us,  since  they  have  raised 
him  from  obscurity  to  an  elevation  which  has  made  him  giddy,  and 
tempted  him  to  suppose  every  thing  within  his  power.  The  intoxica- 
tion of  his  success  is  the  on\en  of  his  fall.  What  though  he  has  car- 
ried the  flames  of  war  throughout  Europe,  and  gathered  as  a  nest  the 
riches  of  the  nations,  tchilc  none  peeped,  nor  muttered,  nor  moved  the 
wing ;  he  has  yet  to  try  his  fortune  ni  another  field ;  he  has  yet  to 
contend  on  a  soil  filled  with  the  monuments  of  freedom,  enriched  with 
the  blood  of  its  defenders  ;  with  a  people  who,  animated  with  one  soul, 
and  inflamed  with  zeal  for  their  laws  and  for  their  prince,  are  armed 
in  defence  of  all  that  is  dear  or  venerable,  their  wives,  their  parents, 
their  children,  the  sanctuary  of  God,  and  the  sepulchre  of  their  fathers. 
AYe  will  not  suppose  there  is  one  who  will  be  deterred  from  exerting 
himself  in  such  a  cause  by  a  pusillanimous  regard  to  his  safety,  when 
he  reflects  that  he  has  already  lived  too  long  who  has  survived  the 
ruin  of  his  country ;  and  that  he  who  can  enjoy  life  after  such  an 
event  deserves  not  to  have  lived  at  all.  It  will  suffice  us,  if  our  mor- 
tal existence,  which  is  at  most  but  a  span,  be  co-extended  with  that 
of  the  nation  which  gave  us  birth.  We  will  gladly  quit  the  scene 
with  all  that  is  noble  and  august,  innocent  and  holy ;  and  instead  of 
wishing  to  survive  the  oppression  of  weakness,  the  violation  of  beauty, 
and  the  extinction  of  every  thing  on  which  the  heart  can  repose,  wel- 
come tlie  shades  which  will  hide  from  our  view  such  horrors. 

From  the  most  fixed  principles  of  human  nature,  as  Avell  as  from 
the  examples  of  all  history,  we  may  be  certain  the  conquest  of  this 
countr}',  should  it  be  permitted  to  take  place,  will  not  terminate  in  any 
ordin-ary  catastrophe,  in  any  much  less  calamitous  than  utter  extermi- 
nation. Our  present  elevation  will  be  the  exact  measure  of  our  future 
depression,  as  it  will  measure  the  fears  and  jealousies  of  those  who 
subdue  us.  While  the  smallest  vestige  remains  of  our  former  great- 
ness, while  any  trace  or  memorial  exists  of  our  having  been  once  a 
flourishing  and  independent  empire,  while  tliQ  nation  breathes  they 
will  be  afi'aid  of  its  recovering  its  strength,  and  never  think  themselves 
secure  of  their  conquest  till  our  navy  is  consumed,  our  wealth  dissi 
pated,  our  commerce  extinguished,  every  liberal  institution  abolished, 
our  nobles  extirpated  ;  whatever  in  rank,  character,  and  talents  gives 
distinction  in  society  culled  out  and  destroyed,  and  the  refuse  which 
remains  swept  together  into  a  putrefying  heap  by  the  besom  of  destruc- 
tion. The  enemy  will  not  need  to  proclaim  his  triumph ;  it  will  be 
felt  in  the  more  expressive  silence  of  extended  desolation. 

Recollect  for  a  moment  his  invasion  of  Egypt,  a  country  which  had 
aever  given  him  the  slightest  provocation ;  a  country  so  remote  from 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  J09 

the  scene  of  his  crimes,  that  it  probably  did  not  know  there  was  such 
a  man  in  existence  ;  (happy  ignorance,  could  it  have  lasted  !)  but  while 
he  was  looking  around  him,  like  a  vulture  perched  on  an  eminence, 
for  objects  on  which  he  might  gratify  his  insatiable  thirst  of  rapine,  he 
no  sooner  beheld  the  defenceless  condition  of  that  unhappy  country 
than  he  alighted  upon  it  in  a  moment.  In  vain  did  it  struggle,  flap  its 
wings,  and  rend  the  air  with  its  shrieks :  the  cruel  enemy,  deaf  to  its 
cries,  had  infixed  his  talons  and  was  busy  in  sucking  its  blood,  when 
the  interference  of  a  superior  power  forced  him  to  relinquish  his  prey 
and  betake  himself  to  flight.  Will  that  vulture,  think  you,  ever  forget 
his  disappointment  on  that  occasion,  or  the  numerous  wounds,  blows, 
and  concussions  he  received  in  a  ten  years'  struggle  ?  It  is  impossi- 
ble ; — it  were  folly  to  expect  it.  He  meditates,  no  doubt,  the  deepest 
revenge.  He  who  saw  nothing  in  the  simple  manners  and  blood- 
bought  liberties  of  the  Swiss  to  engage  his  forbearance,  nothing  in 
proclaiming  himself  a  Mahometan  to  revolt  his  conscience,  nothing  in 
the  condition  of  defenceless  prisoners  to  excite  his  pity,  nor  in  that  of 
the  companions  of  his  warfare,  sick  and  wounded  in  a  foreign  land,  to 
prevent  him  from  despatching  them  by  poison,  will  treat  in  a  manner 
wortliy  of  the  impiety  and  inhumanity  of  his  character  a  nation  which 
he  naturally  dislikes  as  being  free,  dreads  as  the  rivals  of  his  power, 
and  abhors  as  the  authors  of  his  disgrace. 

Though  these  are  undoubted  truths,  and  ought  to  be  seriously  con- 
sidered, yet  I  would  rather  choose  to  appeal  to  sentiments  more  ele- 
vated than  such  topics  can  inspire.  To  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the 
duties  of  this  crisis,  it  will  be  necessary  to  raise  your  minds  to  a  level 
with  your  station^to  extend  your  views  to  a  distant  futurity,  and  to 
consequences  the  most  certain,  though  most*remote.  By  a  series  of 
criminal  enterprises,  by  the  successes  of  guilty  ambition,  the  liberties 
of  Europe  have  been  gradually  extinguished  :  the  subjugation  of  Hol- 
land, Switzerland,  and  the  free  towns  of  .Germany  has  completed  that 
catastrophe ;  and  we  are  the  only  people  in  the  eastern  hemisphere 
who  are  in  possession  of  equal  laws  and  a  free  constitution.  Freedom, 
driven  from  every  spot  on  the  Continent,  has  sought  an  asylum  in  a 
country  which  she  always  chose  for  her  favourite  abode :  but  she  is 
pursued  even  here,  and  threatened  with  destruction.  The  inundation 
of  lawless  power,  after  covering  the  whole  earth,  threatens  to  follow 
us  here  ;  and  we  are  most  exactly,  most  critically  placed  in  the  only 
aperture  where  it  can  be  successfully  repelled  in  the  Thermopylae  of 
the  universe.  As  far  as  the  interests  of  freedom  are  concerned,  the 
most  important  by  far  of  sublunary  interests,  you,  my  countrymen, 
stand  in  the  capacity  of  the  federal  representatives  of  the  human  race  ; 
for  with  you  it  is  to  determine  (under  God)  in  what  condition  the  latest 
posterity  shall  be  born  ;  their  fortunes  are  intrusted  to  your  care,  and 
on  your  conduct  at  this  moment  depends  the  colour  and  complexion 
of  their  destiny.  If  liberty,  after  being  extinguished  on  the  Continent, 
is  suffered  to  expire  here,  whence  is  it  ever  to  emerge  in  the  midst  of 
that  thick  night  that  will  invest  it  1  It  remains  with  you  then  to  decide 
whether  that  freedom,  at  whose  voice  the  kingdoms  of  Eurooe  awok<^ 


no  SENTIMENTS  PROPER  TO 

from  iho  slcfp  of  aujos,  to  run  a  career  of  virtuous  emulation  in  every 
thinn  oroat  and  jjoocl ;  the  freedom  whieh  dispelled  the  mists  of  super- 
stition, ami  invited  the  nations  to  behold  their  (iod  ;  ^vhose  maoic  touch 
kindleil  ihe  rays  of  cjenius,  the  enthusiasm  of  poetry,  and  the  flame  of 
eloquence ;  the  freedom  \vliich  poured  into  our  lap  opulence  and  artsj 
and  embellished  life  with  imiumerable  institutions  and  improvements, 
till  it  became  a  theatre  of  wonders ;  it  is  for  you  to  decide  whether 
this  freedom  shall  yet  survive,  or  be  covered  with  a  funeral  pall,  and 
wrapped  in  eternal  gloom.  It  is  not  necessary  to  await  your  determina- 
tion. In  the  solicitude  you  feel  to  approve  yourselves  wordjy  of  such 
a  trust,  every  thought  of  what  is  afflicting  in  warfare,  every  apprehen- 
sion of  danger  must  vanish,  and  you  are  impatient  to  mingle  in  the 
battle  of  the  civilized  world.  Go  then,  ye  defenders  of  your  country,* 
accompanied  with  every  auspicious  omen ;  advance  with  alacrity  into 
the  field,  where  God  himself  musters  the  hosts  to  war.  Religion  is 
too  much  interested  in  your  success  not  to  lend  you  her  aid  ;  she  will 
shed  over  this  enterprise  her  selectest  influence.  While  you  are  en- 
gaged in  the  field  many  will  repair  to  the  closet,  many  to  the  sanctuary ; 
the  faithful  of  every  name  will  employ  that  prayer  which  has  power 
with  God  ;  the  feeble  hands  wdiich  are  unequal  to  any  other  weapon 
will  grasp  the  sword  of  the  Spirit;  and  from  myriads  of  humble,  con- 
trite hearts  the  voice  of  intercession,  supplication,  and  w-eeping  will 
mingle  in  its  ascent  to  heaven  with  the  shouts  of  battle  and  the  shock 
of  arms. 

While  you  have  every  thing  to  fear  from  the  success  of  the  enemy, 
you  have  every  means  of  preventing  that  success,  so  that  it  is  next  to 
impossible  for  victory  not  to  crown  your  exertion^.  The  extent  of 
your  resources,  under  G^d,  is  equal  to  the  justice  of  your  cause.  But 
should  Providence  determine  otherwise,  should  you  fall  in  this  struggle, 
should  the  nation  fall,  you  will  have  the  satisfaction  (the  purest  allotted 
to  man)  of  having  performed  your  part ;  your  names  will  be  enrolled 
with  the  most  illustrious  dead,  w'hile  posterity,  to  the  end  of  time,  as 
often  as  they  revolve  the  events  of  this  period  (and  they  will  inces- 
santly revolve  them),  will  turn  to  you  a  reverential  eye,  while  they 
mourn  over  the  freedom  which  is  entombed  in  your  sepulchre.  I  can- 
not but  imagine  the  virtuous  heroes,  legislators,  and  patriots  of  every 
age  and  country  are  bending  from  their  elevated  seats  to  witness  this 
contest,  as  if  they  were  incapable,  till  it  be  brought  to  a  favourable 
issue,  of  enjoyhig  their  eternal  repose.  Enjoy  that  repose,  illustrious 
immortals  !  Your  mantle  fell  when  you  ascended ;  and  thousands, 
inflamed  with  your  spirit,  and  impatient  to  tread  in  your  steps,  are 
teady  to  swear  by  him  (hat  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  liveth  for  ever  and 
ever,  they  Avill  protect  freedom  in  her  last  asylum,  and  never  desert 
that  cause  which  you  sustained  by  your  labours  and  cemented  with 
your  blood.  And  thou,  sole  Ruler  among  the  children  of  men,  to 
whom  the  shields  of  the  earth  belong,  gird  on  thy  sword,  thou  Most 
Mighty :  go  forth  with  our  hosts  in  the  day  of  battle !     Impart,  in 


*  A  company  of  volunteers  attended  public  worship  on  this  occasion 


—Ed. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS.  Ill 

addition  to  their  hereditary  valour,  that  confidence  of  success  which 
springs  from  thy  presence !  Pour  into  their  hearts  the  spirit  of  de- 
parted heroes  !  Inspire  them  with  thine  own ;  and,  while  led  by  thy 
hand,  and  fighting  under  thy  banners,  open  thou  their  eyes  to  behold 
in  every  valley,  and  in  every  plain,  what  the  prophet  beheld  by  the 
same  illumination — chariots  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire  !  Then  shall 
the  strong  man  he  as  tow,  and  tlie  maker  of  it  as  a  spark ;  and  they 
shall  both  burn  together,  and  none  shall  quench  them. 


THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE  TO  THE  LOWER  CLASSES 

A    SERMON, 


■j 


PREACHED    AT 


HERVEY  LANE,  LEICESTER, 

FOR    THE    BENEFIT    OF    A    SUNDAY    SCHOOL^ 


[Published  in  1810.] 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


To  attempt  to  disarm  the  severity  of  criticism  by  humiliation  or 
entreaty  would  be  a  hopeless  task.  Waiving  every  apology,  the  au- 
thor, therefore,  has  only  to  remark,  that  the  motives  of  a  writer  must 
ever  remain  a  secret,  but  the  tendency  of  what  he  writes  is  capable  of 
being  ascertained ;  and  is  in  reality  the  only  consideration  in  which 
the  public  are  interested.  The  author  is  concerned  at  an  unexpected 
coincidence  in  the  text  between  this  and  a  very  excellent  discourse, 
delivered  on  a  similar  occasion,  and  published  by  his  much  esteemed 
friend,  the  T?ev.  Francis  Cox.  The  coincidence  was  entirely  acci- 
dental, and  the  text  in  each  instance  being  employed  very  much  in  the 
manner  of  a  motto,  it  is  hoped  the  train  of  thought  will  be  found  suffi- 
ciently distinct.  He  cannot  conclude  without  recommending  to  the 
public,  and  to  the  young  especially,  the  serious  perusal  of  the  above- 
mentioned  animated  and  impressive  discourse. 

H9 


A   SERMON. 


Proverbs  xix.  2. 

That  the  heart  be  without  knowledge,  it  is  not  good. 

Throughout  every  part  of  this  book,  the  author  is  copious  anJ  even 
profuse  in  the  praises  of  knowledge.  To  stimulate  to  the  acquisition 
of  it,  and  to  assist  in  the  pursuit,  is  the  professed  design  with  which 
it  was  penned.  To  know  wisdom  and  instruction ;  to  perceive  the 
words  of  understanding ;  to  receive  the  instruction  of  wisdom,  justice, 
judgment,  and  equity  ;  to  give  subtlety  to  the  simple,  to  the  young  men 
knowledge  and  discretion. 

Though  it  is  evident  from  many  passages,  that  in  the  encomiums  to 
which  we  have  referred  the  author  had  principally  in  view  divine 
knowledge,  yet  from  other  parts  it  is  equally  certain  he  by  no  means 
intended  to  exclude  from  these  commendations  knowledge  in  general ; 
and  as  we  propose  this  afternoon  to  recommend  to  your  attention  the 
Sabbath-day  school  established  in  this  place,  a  few  reflections  on  the 
utility  of  knowledge  at  large,  and  of  religious  knowledge  in  particular, 
will  not  be  deemed  unseasonable. 

I.  Let  me  request  your  attention  to  a  few  remarks  on  the  utility  of 
knowledge  in  general.  It  must  strike  us,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
extent  to  which  we  have  the  faculty  of  acquiring  it  forms  the  most 
obvious  distinction  of  our  species.  In  inferior  animals  it  subsists  in 
so  small  a  degree,  that  we  are  wont  to  deny  it  to  them  altogether ;  the 
range  of 'their  knowledge,  if  it  deserve  the  name,  is  so  extremely 
limited,  and  their  ideas  so  {e^w  and  simple.  AVhatever  is  most  exquisite 
in  their  operations  is  referred  to  an  instinct,  which,  working  within  a 
narrow  compass,  though  with  undeviating  uniformity,  supplies  the 
place  and  supersedes  the  necessity  of  reason.  In  inferior  animals,  the 
knowledge  of  the  whole  species  is  possessed  by  each  individual  of  the 
species,  while  man  is  distinguished  by  numberless  diversities  in  the 
scale  of  mental  improvement.  Now,  to  be  destitute  in  a  remarkable 
degree  of  an  acquisition  which  forms  the  appropriate  possession  of 
human  nature  is  degrading  to  that  nature,  and  must  proportionably 
disqualify  it  for  reaching  the  end  of  its  creation. 

As  the  power  of  acquiring  knowledge  is  to  be  ascribed  to  reason, 
BO  the  atiainmi^nt  of  it  mightily  strengthens  and  imnroves  it,  and  thereby 


118  THK  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

enables  it  to  enrieh  itself  >vith  further  aeqiiisilions.  Kno\vledj.'e  in 
general  expands  the  mind,  exalts  the  facullies,  refines  the  taste;  of 
pleasure,  and  opens  numerous  sourees  of  intelleetual  enjoyment.  13y 
means  of  it  we  beeome  less  dependent  for  satisfaction  upon  the  sensi- 
tive appetites,  the  gross  pleasures  of  sense  are  more  easily  despised, 
and  we  are  nuide  to  feel  the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  to  the  material 
part  of  our  nature.  Instead  of  being  continually  solicited  by  the  influ- 
ence and  irritation  of  sensible  objects,  the  mind  can  retire  within 
herself,  and  expatiate  in  the  cool  and  quiet  walks  of  contemplation. 
The  Author  of  nature  has  wisely  annexed  a  pleasure  to  the  exercise 
of  our  active  powers,  and  particularly  to  the  pursuit  of  truth,  which,  if 
it  be  in  some  instances  less  intense,  is  far  more  durable  than  the  grati- 
fications of  sense,  and  is  on  that  account  incomparably  more  valuable. 
Its  duration,  to  say  nothing  of  its  other  properties,  renders  it  more 
valuable.  It  may  be  repeated  without  satiety,  and  pleases  afresh  on 
every  reflection  upon  it.  These  are  self-created  satisfactions,  always 
within  our  reach,  not  dependent  upon  events,  not  requiring  a  peculiar 
combination  of  circumstances  to  produce  or  maintain  them  ;  they  rise 
from  the  mind  itself,  and  inhere,  so  to  speak,  in  its  very  substance. 
Let  the  mind  but  retain  its  proper  functions,  and  they  spring  up  spon- 
taneously, unsolicited,  unborrowed,  and  unbought.  Even  the  difiiculties 
and  impediments  which  obstruct  the  pursuit  of  truth  serve,  according 
to  the  economy  under  which  we  are  placed,  to  render  it  more  interest- 
ing. The  labour  of  intellectual  search  resembles  and  exceeds  the 
tumultuous  pleasures  of  the  chase,  and  the  consciousness  of  overcoming 
a  formidable  obstacle,  or  of  lighting  on  some  happy  discover}^  gives 
all  the  enjoyment  of  a  conquest,  without  those  corroding  reflections  by 
which  the  latter  must  be  impaired.  Can  we  doubt  that  Archimedes, 
who  was  so  absorbed  in  his  contemplations  as  not  to  be  diverted  by 
the  sacking  of  his  native  city,  and  was  killed  in  the  very  act  of  medi 
tating  a  mathematical  theorem,  did  not,  when  he  exclaimed  (upiiKx ! 
cup^Kcc !  I  have  found  it !  I  have  found  it !  feel  a  transport  as  genuine 
as  Avas  ever  experienced  after  the  most  brilliant  victory  ? 

But  to  return  to  the  moral  good  which  results  from  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge :  it  is  chiefly  this,  that  by  multiplying  the  mental 
resources,  it  has  a  tendency  to  exalt  the  character,  and,  in  some 
measure,  to  correct  and  subdue  the  taste  for  gross  sensuality.  It  en- 
ables the  possessor  to  beguile  his  leisure  moments  (and  every  man  has 
such)  in  an  innocent  at  least,  if  not  in  a  useful  manner.  The  poor 
man  who  can  read,  and  who  possesses  a  taste  for  reading,  can  find 
entertainment  at  home  without  being  tempted  to  repair  to  the  public- 
house  for  that  purpose.  His  mind  can  find  him  employment  w'hen  his 
body  is  at  rest ;  he  does  not  lie  prostrate  and  afloat  on  the  current  of 
incidents,  liable  to  be  carried  whithersoever  the  impulse  of  appetite 
may  direct.  There  is  in  the  mind  of  such  a  man  an  intellectual  spring 
urging  him  to  the  pursuit  of  mental  good  ;  and  if  the  minds  of  his  family 
also  are  a  little  cultivated,  conversation  becomes  the  more  interesting, 
and  the  sphere  of  domestic  enjoyment  enlarged.  The  calm  satisfaction 
which  books  aflTord  puts  him  into  a  disposition  to  relish  more  exqui- 


TO  THE  LOWER  CLASSES.  119 

sitely  the  tranquil  delight  inseparable  from  the  indulgence  of  conjugal 
and  parental  affection ;  and  as  he  will  be  more  respectable  in  the  eyes 
of  his  family  than  he  who  can  teach  them  nothing,  he  will  be  naturally 
induced  to  cultivate  whatever  may  preserve,  and  shun  whatever  would 
impair,  that  respect.  He  who  is  inured  to  refleciion  will  carry  his 
views  beyond  the  present  hour  ;  he  will  extend  his  prospect  a  little  into 
futurity,  and  be  disposed  to  make  some  provision  for  his  approaching 
wants ;  whence  will  result  an  increased  motive  to  industry,  together 
with  a  care  to  husband  his  earnings  and  to  avoid  unnecessary  expense. 
The  poor  man  who  has  gained  a  taste  for  good  books  will  in  all  likeli- 
hood become  thoughtful ;  and  when  you  have  given  the  poor  a  habit 
of  thinking,  you  have  conferred  on  them  a  much  greater  favour  than 
by  the  gift  of  a  large  sum  of  money,  since  you  have  put  them  in  pos- 
session of  the  principle  of  all  legitimate  prosperity. 

I  am  persuaded  that  the  extreme  profligacy,  improvidence,  and  misery 
which  are  so  prevalent  among  the  labouring  classes  in  many  countries 
are  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  want  of  education.  In  proof  of  this 
we  need  only  cast  our  eyes  on  the  condition  of  the  Irish  compared 
with  that  of  the  peasantry  in  Scotland.  Among  the  former  you  behold 
nothing  but  beggary,  wretchedness,  and  sloth  :  in  Scotland,  on  the  con- 
trary, under  the  disadvantages  of  a  worse  climate  and  more  unproductive 
soil,  a  degree  of  decency  and  comfort,  the  fruit  of  sobriety  and  industry, 
is  conspicuous  among  the  lower  classes.  And  to  what  is  this  dis- 
parity in  their  situation  to  be  ascribed  except  to  the  influence  of  educa- 
tion ?  In  Ireland  the  education  of  the  poor  is  miserably  neglected ; 
very  ie-w  of  them  can  read,  and  they  grow  up  in  a  total  ignorance  of 
what  it  most  befits  a  rational  creature  to  understand :  while  in  Scot- 
land the  establishment  of  free  schools*  in  every  parish,  an  essential 
branch  of  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  the  country,  brings  the 
means  of  instruction  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest,  who  are  there 
inured  to  decency,  industry,  and  order.. 

Some  have  objected  to  the  instruction  of  the  lower  classes,  from  an 
apprehension  that  it  would  lift  them  above  their  sphere,  make  them 
dissatisfied  with  their  station  in  life,  and,  by  impairing  the  habits  of 
subordination,  endanger  the  tranquillity  of  the  state  ;  an  objection 
devoid  surely  of  all  force  and  validity.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  in 
what  manner  instructing  men  in  their  duties  can  prompt  them  to  neglect 
those  duties,  or  how  that  enlargement  of  reason  which  enables  them  to 
comprehend  the  true  grounds  of  authority  and  the  obligation  to  obe- 
dience should  indispose  them  to  obey.  The  admirable  mechanism  of 
society,  together  with  that  subordination  of  ranks  which  is  essential  to 
its  subsistence,  is  surely  not  an  elaborate  imposture,  which  the  exercise 
of  reason  will  detect  aiid  expose.      The  objection  we  have   statei' 

*  In  the  "Edinburgh  Christian  Instructor"  for  1810,  the  slight  mistake  which  occurs  above,  iii 
reference  to  "  free  sciiools"  in  North  britain,  is  thus  corrected.  "The  truth  is,  iliatyree  schooU 
could  never  have  effected  that  improvement  in  the  manners  and  intelligence  of  the  lower  orders  in 
Scotland  for  which  they  are  so  remarkable  ;  and  we  have  reason  to  bless  the  judicious  liberality  oi 
our  ancestors,  who  contented  themselves  witli  bringing  education  within  the  roach  of  the  lowei 
orders,  by  allowing  limited  salaries  to  the  schoolmasters,  in  aid  nfthe  school  u-as:rs,  instead  of  goinj 
to  the  hurtful  extreme  which  lends  to  render  teachers  careless  and  parents  indifferent.''— Ed. 


120  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

implies  aiefloction  on  the  social  order,  equally  impolitic,  invidious,  and 
unjust.  Nothing  in  reality  renders  legitimate  governments  so  insecure 
as  extreme  ignorance  in  the  people.  It  is  this  which  yields  them  an 
easy  prey  to  seduction,  makes  them  the  victims  of  prejudices  and  false 
alarms,  and  so  ferocious  withal,  that  their  interference  in  a  time  of 
public  commotion  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  tlie  eruption  of  a  volcano. 

The  true  prop  of  good  government  is  opinion,  the  perception  on  the 
part  of  the  subject  of  benefits  resulting  from  it, — a  settled  conviction,  in 
other  words,  of  its  being  a  public  good.  Now,  nothing  can  produce 
or  maintain  that  opinion  but  knowledge,  since  opinion  is  a  form  of 
knowledge.  Of  tyrannical  and  unlawful  governments,  mdeed,  the  sup- 
port is  fear,  to  which  ignorance  is  as  congenial  as  it  is  abhorrent  from 
the  genius  of  a  free  people.  Look  at  the  popular  insurrections  and 
massacres  in  France  :  of  M"hat  description  of  persons  were  those  ruf- 
lians  composed  who,  breaking  forth  like  a  torrent,  overwhelmed  the 
mounds  of  lawful  authority  1  Who  were  the  cannibals  that  sported 
with  the  mangled  carcasses  and  palpitating  limbs  of  their  murdered 
victims,  and  dragged  them  about  with  their  teeth  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Tuilleries  ?  "Were  they  refined  and  elaborated  into  these  barbarities 
by  the  efforts  of  a  too  polished  education  1  No  :  they  were  the  very 
scum  of  the  people,  destitute  of  all  moral  culture,  whose  atrocity  was 
only  equalled  by  their  ignorance,  as  might  w-ell  be  expected,  when  the  one 
was  the  legitimate  parent  of  the  other.  Who  are  the  persons  who,  in 
every  country-,  are  most  disposed  to  outrage  and  violence,  but  the  most 
ignorant  and  uneducated  of  the  poor  ?  to  which  class  also  chiefly 
belong  those  unhappy  beings  who  are  doomed  to  expiate  their  crimes 
at  the  fatal  tree  ;  few  of  whom,  it  has  recently  been  ascertained,  on 
accurate  inquiry,  are  able  to  read,  and  the  greater  part  utterly  destitute 
of  all  moral  or^religious  principle. 

Ignorance  gives  a  sort  of  eternity  to  prejudice,  and  perpetuity  to 
error.  When  a  baleful  superstition,  like  that  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
has  once  got  footing  among  a  people  in  this  situation,  it  becomes  next 
to  impossible  to  eradicate  it ;  for  it  can  only  be  assailed  with  succes; 
by  the  weapons  of  reason  and  argument,  and  to  these  weapons  it  is, 
impassive.  The  sword  of  ethereal  temper  loses  its  edge  when  tried 
on  the  scaly  hide  of  this  leviathan.  No  wonder  the  church  of  Rome 
is  such  a  friend  to  ignorance ;  it  is  but  paying  the  arrears  of  gratitude 
in  which  she  is  deeply  indebted.  How  is  it  possible  for  her  not  to 
hate  that  light  which  would  unveil  her  impostures  and  detect  her 
enorinities. 

If  we  survey  the  genius  of  Christianity,  we  shall  find  it  to  be  just 
the  reverse.  It  was  ushered  into  the  world  with  the  injunction  Go 
and  teach  all  nations,  and  every  step  of  its  progress  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  instruction.  With  a  condescension  worthy  of  its  Author,  it  offers 
information  to  the  meanest  and  most  illiterate  ;  but  extreme  ignorance 
is  not  in  a  state  of  mind  favourable  to  it.  The  first  churches  were 
planted  in  cities  (and  those  the  most  celebrated  and  enlightened),  drawn 
neither  from  the  very  highest  m.r  the  very  lowest  classes ;  the  former 
too  often  the  victims  of  luxury  and  pride,  the  latter  sunk  in  extreme 


TO  THE  LOWER  CLASSES.  121 

stupidity  ;  but  from  the  middle  orders,  where  the  largest  portion  of 
virtue  and  good  sense  has  usually  resided.  In  remote  villages,  its 
progress  was  extremely  slow,  owing  unquestionably  to  that  want  of 
mental  cultivation  which  rendered  them  the  last  rertreats  of  superstition  ; 
insomuch  that  in  the  fifth  century  the  abetters  of  the  ancient  idolatrj' 
began  to  be  denominated  Pagani,  which  properly  denotes  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  country,  in  distinction  from  those  who  reside  in  towns. 
At  the  Reformation,  the  progress  of  the  Reformed  faith  went  hand  in 
hand  with  the  advancement  of  letters ;  it  had  every  where  the  same 
friends  and  the  same  enemies,  and,  next  to  its  agreement  with  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  its  success  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed,  under  God,  to 
the  art  of  printing,  the  revival  of  classical  learning,  and  the  illustrious 
patrons  of  science  attached  to  its  cause.  In  the  representation  of  that 
glorious  period  usually  styled  the  Millennium,  when  religion  siiall 
universally  prevail,  it  is  mentioned  as  a  conspicuous  feature,  tliat  men 
shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  shall  be  increased.  That  period 
will  not  be  distinguished  from  the  preceding  by  men's  minds  being 
more  torpid  and  inactive,  but  rather  by  the  consecration  of  every  power 
o  the  service  of  the  Most  High.  It  will  be  a  period  of  remarkable 
\lumination,  during  which  the  light  of  the  moon  shall  be  as  the  light  of 
he  sun,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  as  that  of  seven  days.  Every  useful 
talent  will  be  cultivated,  every  art  subservient  to  the  interests  of  man 
be  improved  and  perfected  ;  learning  will  amass  her  stores,  and  genius 
emit  her  splendour;  but  the  former  will  be  displayed  without  osten- 
tation, and  the  latter  shine  with  the  softened  effulgence  of  humility 
and  love. 

II.  We  have  hitherto  spoken  of  the  advantages  of  knowledge  in 
general;  we  proceed  to  notice  the  nliWiy  oi  religious  knowledge  in  par- 
ticular. _  Religion,  on  account  of  its  intimate  relation  to  a  future  state, 
is  every  man's  proper  business,  and  should  be  his  chief  care.  Of 
knowledge  in  general,  there  are  branches  which  it  would  be  prepos- 
terous in  the  bulk  of  mankind  to  attempt  to  acquire,  because  they  have 
no  immediate  connexion  with  their  duties,  and  demand  talents  which 
nature  has  denied,  or  opportunities  which  Providence  has  withheld. 
But  with  respect  to  the  primary  truths  of  religion,  the  case  is  different  \ 
they  are  of  such  daily  use  and  necessity,  that  they  form  not  the  mate- 
rials of  mental  luxury,  so  properly,  as  the  food  of  the  mind.  In 
improving  the  character,  the  influence  of  general  knowledge  is  often 
feeble  and  always  indirect ;  of  religious  knowledge  the  tendency  to 
purify  the  heart  is  immediate,  and  forms  its  professed  scope  and  design. 
This  is  life  eternal,  to  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and,  Jesus  Christ, 
v)hom  thou  hast  sent.  To  ascertain  the  character  of  the  Supreme 
Author  of  all  things,  to  know,  as  far  as  we  are  capable  of  comprehend- 
ing such  a  subject,  what  is  his  moral  disposition,  what  the  situation  we 
stand  in  towards  him,  and  the  principles  by  which  he  conducts  his 
administration,  will  be  allowed  by  every  considerate  person  to  be  of 
the  highest  consequence.  Compared  to  this,  all  other  speculations  or 
inquiries  sink  into  insignificance     because  every  event  that  can  beiail 


122  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

us  is  in  his  hands,  and  by  his  sentence  onr  final  condition  must  be 
fixed.  To  regard  such  an  inquiry  M'itli  iniiifl'ercnce  is  the  mark  not 
of  a  noble  but  of  an  abject  mind,  which,  immersed  in  sensuality,  or 
amused  with  trifles,  ilccms  itself  nnicortliy  of  eternal  Ufc.  To  be  so 
absorbed  in  worldly  pursuits  as  to  neglect  future  prospects  is  a  con- 
duct that  can  plead  no  excuse  until  it  is  ascertained  beyond  all  doubt 
or  contradiction  that  there  is  no  hereafter,  and  tliat  nothing  remains 
but  that  ICC  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die.  Even  in  that  case  to 
forego  the  hope  of  ininiortality  without  a  sigh, — to  be  gay  and  sportive 
on  the  brink  of  destruction,  in  the  very  moment  of  relinquishing  pros- 
pects on  M-hich  the  wisest  and  best  in  every  age  have  delighted  to  dwell, 
is  the  indication  of  a  base  and  degenerate  spirit.  If  existence  be  a  good, 
the  eternal  loss  of  it  must  be  a  great  evil :  if  it  be  an  evil,  reason 
suggests  the  propriety  of  inquiring  why  it  is  so,  of  investigating  the 
maladies  by  which  it  is  oppressed.  Amid  the  darkness  and  uncer- 
tainty which  hang  over  our  future  condition.  Revelation,  by  bringing 
life  and  immortality  to  light,  aflbrds  the  only  relief.  In  the  Bible  alone 
we  learn  »he  real  character  of  the  Supreme  Being;  his  holiness,  jus- 
tice, mercy,  and  truth  ;  the  moral  condition  of  man  considered  in  his 
relation  to  Him  is  clearly  pointed  out ;  the  doom  of  impenitent  trans- 
gressors denounced,  and  the  method  of  obtaining  mercy  through  the 
interposition  of  a  divine  mediator  plainly  revealed.  There  are  two 
considerations  which  may  suffice  to  evince  the  indispensable  necessity 
of  scriptural  knowledge. 

1.  The  Scriptures  contain  an  authentic  discovery  o/"  Me  way  of  salva 
tion.  They  are  a  revelation  of  mercy  to  a  lost  world  ;  a  reply  to  that 
most  interesting  inquiry.  What  ive  must  do  to  be  saved.  The  distin- 
guishing feature  of  the  gospel  system  is  the  economy  of  redemption, 
or  the  gracious  provision  the  Supreme  Being  has  thought  fit  to  make 
for  reconciling  the  world  to  himself,  by  the  manifestation  in  human 
nature  of  his  own  Son.  It  is  this  which  constitutes  it  the  Gospel,  by 
way  of  eminence,  or  the  glad  tidings  concerning  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  on  the  right  reception  of  which,  or  its  rejection,  turns  our  ever- 
lasting weal  or  wo.  It  is  not  from  the  character  of  God  as  our  creator, 
it  should  be  remembered,  that  the  hope  of  the  guilty  can  arise ;  the 
fullest  development  of  his  essential  perfections  could  afford  no  relief 
in  this  case,  and  therefore  natural  religion,  were  it  capable  of  being 
carried  to  the  utmost  perfection,  can  never  supersede  the  necessity 
of  revealed.  To  inspire  confidence,  an  express  communication  from 
Heaven  is  necessary :  since  the  introduction  of  sin  has  produced  a 
peculiarity  in  our  situation  and  a  perplexity  in  our  prospects,  which 
nothing  but  an  express  assurance  of  mercy  can  remove. 

In  what  maimer  the  blessed  and  only  Potentate  may  think  fit  to 
dispose  of  a  race  of  apostates  is  a  question  on  which  reason  can  sug- 
gest nothing  satisfactory,  nothing  salutary :  a  question,  in  the  solution 
of  which,  there  being  no  data  to  proceed  upon,  wisdom  and  folly  fail 
alike,  and  every  order  of  intellect  is  reduced  to  a  level,  for  who  hath 
known  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  or,  being  his  counsellor,  hath  taught  him  ? 
It  is  a  secret  which,  had  he  not  been  pleased  to  unfold  it,  must  have 


TO  THE  LOWER  CLASSES.  I33 

for  ever  remained  in  the  breast  of  the  Deity.  This  secret,  in  infinite 
mercy,  he  has  condescended  to  disclose :  the  silence,  not  tliat  which 
John  witnessed  in  the  Apocalypse,  of  half  an  hour,  but  that  of  ages, 
is  broken ;  the  darkness  is  past,  and  we  behold  in  the  gospel  the 
astonishing  spectacle  of  God  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  him- 
self, not  imputing  to  them  their  trespasses,  and  sending  forth  his  am- 
bassadors to  entreat  us  in  Christ''s  stead  to  be  reconciled  to  God. 
To  that  strange  insensibility  with  respect  to  the  concerns  of  a  future 
world  which  is  at  once  the  indication  and  consequence  of  the  fall 
must  we  ascribe  the  languid  attention  with  which  this  communication 
IS  received;  instead  of  producing,  as  it  ought,  transports  of  gratitude 
and  joy  in  every  breast. 

Tiiis,  however  we  may  be  disposed  to  regard  it,  is  unquestionably 
tlie  grand  peculiarity  of  the  gospel,  the  exclusive  boast  and  treasure 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  most  emphatically  tJie  way  of  salvation,  not  only 
as  it  reveals  the  gracious  intentions  of  God  to  a  sinful  world,  but  as  it 
lays  a  solid  foundation  for  the  supernatural  duties  of  faith  and  repent- 
ance. AH  the  discoveries  of  the  gospel  bear  a  most  intimate  relation 
to  the  character  and  offices  of  the  Saviour ;  from  him  they  emanate, 
in  him  they  centre ;  nor  is  any  thing  we  learn  from  the  Old  or  New 
Testament  of  saving  tendency,  further  than  as  a  part  of  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus.  The  neglect  of  considering  revelation  in  this  light  is  a 
fruitful  source  of  infidelity.  Viewing  it  in  no  higher  character  than  a 
republication  of  the  law  of  nature,  men  are  first  led  to  doubt  the  impor- 
tance, and  next  the  truth  of  the  discoveries  it  contains ;  an  easy  and 
natural  transition,  since  the  question  of  their  importance  is  so  compli- 
cated with  that  of  their  truth  in  the  Scriptures  themselves,  that  the 
most  refined  ingenuity  cannot  long  keep  them  separate.  It  gives  the 
knowledge  of  salvation  by  the  remission  of  sins,  through  the  tender 
mercy  of  our  God,  whereby  the  day-spring  from  on  high  hath  visited  us, 
to  give  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness^  and  the  shadow  of  death,  to 
guide  our  feet  into  the  way  of  peace.  While  we  contemplate  it  under 
this  its  true  character,  we  view  it  in  its  just  dimensions,  and  feel  no 
inclination  to  extenuate  the  force  of  those  representations  which  are 
expressive  of  its  pre-eminent  dignity.  There  is  nothing  will  be  allowed 
to  come  into  comparison  with  it,  nothing  we  shall  not  be  ready  to 
sacrifice  for  a  participation  of  its  blessings  and  the  extension  of  its 
influence.  The  veneration  we  shall  feel  for  the  Bible,  as  the  deposi- 
tory of  saving  knowledge,  will  be  totally  distinct,  not  only  from  what 
we  attach  to  any  other  book,  but  from  that  admiration  its  other  proper- 
ties inspire;  and  the  variety  and  antiquity  of  its  history,  the  light  iv 
aflbrds  in  various  researches,  its  inimitable  touches  of  nature,  together 
with  the  sublimity  and  beauty  so  copiously  poured  over  its  pages,  will 
be  deemed  subsidiary  ornaments,  the  embellishments  of  the  casket 
which  contains  the  pearl  of  great  price. 

2.  Scriptural  knowledge  is  of  inestimable  value  on  accoimt  of  its 
supplying  an  infallible  rule  of  life.  To  the  most  untutored  mind,  the 
information  it  affords  on  this  subject  is  far  more  full  and  precise  than 
the  highest  efforts  of  reason  could  attain.  In  the  best  moral  precepts 
issuintf  from  human  wisdom,  tliere  is  an  inciirable  defect  in  that  want 


12-i  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE 

of  authority  wliit-h  robs  them  of  their  power  over  the  conscience  ;  the; 
arc  ohHtjatory  no  further  than  tlieir  reason  is  perceived ;  a  deduction 
of  proofs  is  necessary,  more  or  less  intricate  and  uncertain,  and  even 
wlien  clearest,  it  is  still  but  the  language  of  man  to  man,  respectable 
as  sage  advice,  but  wanting  the  force  and  authority  of  law.  In  a  well- 
attested  revelation,  it  is  the  Judge  speaking  from  the  tribunal,  the 
Supren^.e  Legislator  promulgating  and  interpreting  his  own  laws.  With 
what  force  and  conviction  do  those  apostles  and  prophets  address  us 
whose  miraculous  powers  attest  them  to  be  the  servants  of  tlie  Most 
High,  the  immediate  organs  of  the  Deity !  As  the  morality  of  the 
gospel  is  more  pure  and  comprehensive  than  was  ever  inculcated  be- 
fore, so  the  consideration  of  its  divine  origination  invests  it  with  an 
energy  of  which  every  system  not  expressly  founded  upon  it  is  entirely 
devoid.  We  turn  at  our  peril  from  Him  who  speaketh  to  us  from 
heaven. 

Of  an  accountable  creature,  duty  is  the  concern  of  every  moment, 
since  he  is  every  moment  pleasing  or  displeasing  God.  It  is  a  uni- 
versal clement  mingling  with  every  action,  and  qualifying  every  dispo- 
sition and  pursuit.  The  moral  quality  of  conduct,  as  it  serves  both  to 
ascertain  and  to  form  the  character,  has  consequences  in  a  future 
world  so  certain  and  infallible,  that  it  is  represented  in  Scripture  as  a 
seed,  no  part  of  which  is  lost,  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  also 
shall  he  reap.  That  rectitude  which  the  inspired  writers  usually 
denominate  holiness  is  the  health  and  beauty  of  the  soul,  capable  of 
bestowing  dignity  in  the  absence  of  every  other  accomplishment,  while 
the  want  of  it  leaves  the  possessor  of  the  richest  intellectual  endow- 
ments a  painted  sepulchre.  Hence  results  the  indispensable  necessity, 
to  every  description  of  persons,  of  sound  religious  instruction,  and  of 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Scriptures  as  its  genuine  source. 

It  must  be  confessed,  from  melancholy  experience,  that  a  speculative 
acquaintance  with  the  rules  of  duty  is  too  compatible  with  the  violation 
of  its  dictates,  and  that  it  is  possible  for  the  convictions  of  conscience 
to  be  habitually  overpowered  by  the  corrupt  suggestions  of  appetite. 
To  see  distinctly  the  right  way,  and  to  pursue  it,  are  not  precisely  the 
same  thing.  Still  nothing  in  the  order  of  means  promises  so  much 
success  as  the  diligent  inculcation  of  revealed  truth.  He  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  terrors  of  the  Lord  cannot  live  in  the  neglect  of 
God  and  religion  with  present,  any  more  than  W'ith  future  impunity ; 
the  path  of  disobedience  is  obstructed  if  not  rendered  impassable  ;  and 
wherever  he  turns  his  eyes  he  beholds  the  sword  of  divine  justice 
stretched  out  to  intercept  his  passage.  Guilt  will  be  appalled,  con- 
science alarmed,  and  the  fruits  of  unlawful  gratification  imbittered  to 
his  taste. 

It  is  surely  desirable  to  place  as  many  obstacles  as  possible  in  the 
path  of  ruin :  to  take  care  that  the  image  of  death  shall  meet  the 
offender  at  every  turn ;  that  he  shall  not  be  able  to  persist  without 
treading  upon  briers  and  scorpions,  without  forcing  his  way  through 
obstructions  more  formidable  than  he  can  expect  to  meet  with  in  a 
contrary  course.  If  you  can  enlist  the  nobler  part  of  his  nature  under 
the  banners  of  virtue,  set  him  at  war  with  himself,  and  subject  him  to 


fO  THE  LOWER  CLASSES.  125 

li.e  nei;essu_\  should  he  persevere,  of  stifling  and  overcoming  what- 
ever  is  most  characteristic  of  a  reasonable  creature,  you  have  done 
what  will  proI)ably  not  be  unproductive  of  advantage.  If  he  be  at  the 
same  time  reminded,  by  his  acquaintance  with  the  word  of  God,  of  a 
better  state  of  mind  being  attainable,  a  better  destiny  reserved,  provided 
they  are  willing  and  obedient,  for  the  children  of  men,  there  is  room 
to  hope  that,  wearied,  to  speak  in  the  language  of  the  prophet,  in  the 
greatness  of  his  way,  he  will  bethink  himself  of  the  true  refuge,  and 
implore  the  spirit  of  grace  to  aid  his  weakness  and  subdue  his  corrup- 
tions. Sound  religious  instruction  is  a  perpetual  counterpoise  to  the 
force  of  depravity.  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul ; 
the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple ;  the  com- 
inandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes  ;  the  fear  of  the 
Lord'is  clean,  enduring  for  ever ;  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true, 
and  righteous  altogether. 

While  we  insist  on  the  absolute  necessity  of  an  acquaintance  with 
the  word  of  God,  we  are  equally  convinced  it  is  but  an  instrument, 
which,  like  every  other,  requires  a  hand  to  Avield  it ;  and  that,  impor- 
tant as  it  is  in  the  order  of  means,  the  spirit  of  Christ  only  can  make 
it  effectual,  which  ought  therefore  to  be  earnestly  and  incessantly  im- 
plored for  that  purpose.  Open  mine  eyes,  saith  the  Psalmist,  and  I 
shall  behold  wonderful  things  out  of  thy  law.  We  trust  it  will  be  your 
care  who  have  the  conduct  of  the  school  we  are  recommending  to  the 
patronage  of  this  audience  to  impress  on  these  chddren  a  deep  con- 
viction of  their  radical  corruption,  and  of  the  necessity  of  the  agency 
of  the  Spirit  to  render  the  knowledge  they  acquire  practical  and  ex- 
perimental. In  the  morning  sow  your  seed,  in  the  evening  withhold  not 
your  hand ;  hut  remember  that  neither  he  that  soweth,  nor  he  that  water- 
eth,  is  any  thing ;  it  is  God  that  giveth  the  increase.  Be  not  satisfied 
with  making  them  read  a  lesson  or  repeat  a  prayer.  By  every  thing 
tender  and  solemn  in  religion,  by  a  due  .admixture  of  the  awful  con- 
siderations drawn  from  the  prospect  of  death  and  judgment,  with  others 
of  a  more  pleasing  nature,  aim  to  fix  serious  impressions  on  their 
hearts.  Aim  to  produce  a  religious  concern,  carefully  watch  its  pro 
gress,  and  endeavour  to  conduct  it  to  a  prosperous  issue.  Lead  them 
to  the  footstool  of  the  Saviour ;  teach  them  to  rely,  as  guilty  creatures, 
on  his  merits  alone,  and  to  commit  their  eternal  interests  entirely  into 
his  hands.  Let  the  salvation  of  these  children  be  the  object  to  which 
every  word  of  your  instructions,  every  exertion  of  your  authority  is 
directed.  Despise  the  profane  clamou-r  which  would  deter  you  from 
attempting  to  render  them  serious,  from  an  apprehension  of  its  making 
them  melancholy,  not  doubting  for  a  moment  that  the  fear  of  the  Lord 
is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  and  that  the  path  to  true  happiness  lies 
through  purity,  humility,  and  devotion.  Meditate  the  worth  of  souls  : 
meditate  deeply  the  lessons  the  Scriptures  afford  on  their  inconceiv- 
able value  and  eternal  duration.  While  the  philosopher  wearies  him- 
self with  endless  speculations  on  their  physical  properties  and  nature, 
while  the  politician  only  contemplates  the  social  arrangements  of  man- 
kind and  the  shifting  forms  of  policy,  fix  your  attention  on  the  indi- 
vidual injpcrtance  of  man  as  the  creature  of  God  and  a  candidate  for 


lofj  THE  ADVANTAGES  OF  KNOWLEDGE. 

ininiortalitv.  liCt  it  be  your  highest  ambition  to  train  n^  these  chil- 
dren tor  an  undianging  condition  of  being.  Spare  no  pains  to  recover 
them  to  the  image  of  God ;  render  familiar  to  tlieir  minds,  in  all  its 
extent,  the  various  branches  of  that  hoUnrss  without  M'hich  none  shall 
see  the  Lord.  Inculcate  the  obligation,  and  endeavour  to  inspire  the 
love  of  that  rectitude,  that  eternal  rectitude,  Avhich  was  with  God  be- 
fore time  began,  was  imbodied  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  and  in  its 
lower  communications  will  survive  every  subhmary  change,  emerge 
in  the  dissolution  of  all  things,  and  be  impressed,  in  refulgent  charac- 
ters, on  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth,  in  which  dwelleth  right- 
eousness. Pray  often  with  them  and  for  them,  and  remind  them  of 
the  inconceivable  advantages  attached  to  that  exercise.  Accustom 
them  to  a  punctual  and  reverential  attendance  at  the  house  of  God : 
hisist  on  the  sanctificalion  of  tlie  Sabbath,  by  such  a  disposal  of  time 
as  is  suitable  to  a  day  of  rest  and  devotion.  Survey  them  with  a 
vigilant  and  tender  eye,  checking  every  appearance  of  an  evil  and 
depraved  disposition  the  moment  it  springs  up,  and  encouraging  the 
dawn  of  piety  and  virtue.  By  thus  training  them  tip  in  the  way  they 
should  go,  you  may  reasonably  hope  that,  when  old,  they  will  not 
depart  from  it. 

We  congratulate  the  nation  on  the  extent  of  the  efforts  employed 
and  the  means  set  on  foot  for  the  improvement  of  the  lower  classes, 
and  especially  the  children  of  the  poor,  in  moral  and  religious  know- 
ledge, from  which  w^e  hope  much  good  will  accrue,  not  only  to  the 
parties  concerned  but  to  the  kingdom  at  large.  These  are  the  like- 
liest, or  rather  the  only  expedients  that  can  be  adopted  for  forming  a 
sound  and  virtuous  populace ;  and  if  there  be  any  truth  in  the  figure 
by  which  society  is  compared  to  a  pyramid,  it  is  on  them  its  stability 
chiefly  depends  :  the  elaborate  ornament  at  the  top  will  be  a  wretched 
compensation  for  the  want  of  solidity  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  struc- 
ture. These  are  not  the  times  in  which  it  is  safe  fur  a  nation  to 
repose  on  the  lap  of  ignorance.  If  there  ever  were  a  season  when 
public  tranquillity  was  ensured  by  the  absence  of  knowledge,  that 
season  is  past.  The  convulsed  state  of  the  world  will  not  permit 
unthinking  stupidity  to  sleep  without  being  appalled  by  phantoms  and 
shaken  by  terrors  to  which  reason,  w-hich  defines  her  objects  and 
limits  her  apprehensions  by  the  reality  of  things,  is  a  stranger.  Every 
thing  in  the  condition  of  mankind  announces  the  approach  of  some 
great  crisis,  for  which  nothing  can  prepare  us  but  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  probity,  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  AVhile  the  world  is 
impelled  with  such  violence  in  opposite  directions  ;  while  a  spirit  of 
giddiness  and  revolt  is  shed  upon  the  nations,  and  the  seeds  of  muta- 
tion are  so  thickly  sown,  the  improvement  of  the  mass  of  the  people 
will  be  our  grand  security ;  in  the  neglect  of  which,  the  politeness, 
the  refinement,  and  the  knowledge  accumulated  in  the  higher  orders, 
weak  and  unprotected,  will  be  exposed  to  imminent  danger,  and  perish 
like  a  garland  in  the  grasp  of  popular  fury.  Wisdom  and  knowledge 
shall  be  the  stability  of  thy  times,  and  strength  of  salvation  ;  the  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  his  treasure. 


ON  THE  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  MINISTER: 

A    DISCOURSE, 

DELIVERED    TO 

THE  REV.  JAMES  ROBERTSON, 

dtT   HIS    ORDINATION    OVER   THE    INDEPENDENT    CHURCH    AT    STRETTONb 
WARWICKSHIRE. 


[Published  in  1812.'' 


ITH     SENTIMENTS    OF     THE     HIGHEST     ESTEEM, 
THE  FOLLOWING  DISCOU-RSE, 
DELIVERED     AT     HIS     REQUEST, 
IS    INSCRIBED    TO 

THE   REV.    JAMES    ROBERTSON, 

BY    HIS 
AFFECTIONATE     FHIEND 

AND     BROTHER, 

THE  A.UTHOR. 


Vo...  I. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  discourse  would  sooner  have  made  its  appearance, 
but  for  circumstances  in  which  the  public  are  too  little  interested  to 
render  it  necessary  or  proper  for  me  to  explain :  nor  should  I  have 
adverted  to  the  time  of  its  publication,  did  it  not  seem  strange  that, 
having  been  preached  on  a  public  occasion,  it  should  be  committed  to 
the  press  more  than  a  twelvemonth  after  the  delivery. 

With  respect  to  the  sermon  itself,  the  author  begs  leave  to  bespeak 
the  indulgence  of  his  readers  for  introducing  sentiments  with  which 
they  must  be  perfectly  familiar,  requesting  them  to  recollect  that,  on 
practical  subjects,  the  most  common  thoughts  are  usually  the  most 
important,  and  that  originality  is  the  last  quality  we  seek  for  in  advice. 
If  it  have  any  tendency  to  do  good  beyond  the  occasion  of  its  delivery, 
by  reminding  my  highly-esteemed  brethren  in  the  ministry  of  the 
duties  and  obligation  attached  to  their  sacred  function,  the  end  pro- 
posed will  be  answered.  The  worthy  person  to  whom  it  was  ad- 
dressed gave  a  specimen  of  his  liberality,  in  engaging  me  to  take  so 
leading  a  part  in  his  ordination,  when  our  difference  of  sentiment  on 
the  subject  of  baptism  was  well  known ;  a  subject  which  has,  unhappily, 
been  a  frequent  occasion  of  alienating  the'  minds  of  Christians  from 
each  other.  How  much  is  it  to  be  lamented,  that  the  Christian  world 
should  be  so  violently  aghated  by  disputes,  and  divided  into  factions, 
on  points  which,  it  is  allowed,  in  whatever  way  they  are  decided,  do 
not  enter  into  the  essentials  of  Christianity !  When  will  the  time 
arrive  when  the  disciples  of  Christ  shall  cordially  join  hand  and  heart 
with  all  who  hold  the  head,  and  no  other  terms  of  communion  be 
insisted  upon  in  any  church  but  what  are  necessary  to  constitute  a 
real  Christian?  The  departure  from  a  principle  so  directly  resulting 
from  the  genius  of  Christianity,  and  so  evidently  inculcated  and  implied 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  has,  in  my  apprehension,  been  productive  of 
infinite  mischief;  nor  is  there  room  to  anticipate  the  period  of  the 
universal  diffusion  and  triumph  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  its  being  completely  renoimced  and  abandoned. 

What  can  be  more  repugnant  to  the  beautiful  idea  which  our  Saviour 
gives  us  of  his  church,  as  one  fold  under  one  shepherd,  than  the  present 
aspect  of  Christendom,  split  into  separate  and  hostile  communions 
frowning  defiance  on  each  other,  where  each  erects  itself  upon  partij 
principles,  and  selects  its   respective  watchword   of  contention,  as 

12 


['io  PREFACE. 

tlioiitih  tlie  epithet  of  militant,  when  applied  to  the  church,  were 
desi>nuHl  to  announce,  not  a  state  of  conllict  with  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness, but  of  irreconcilable  intestine  warfare  and  opposition.  But  it  is 
necessary  to  quit  a  sul)ject  which,  though  painfully  interesting,  would 
necessarily  lead  to  rcilections  inconsistent  with  the  limits  of  this 
preface. 

It  may  be  more  to  the  purpose  to  remark,  that  the  substance  of  the 
following  discourse  was  delivered  in  London,  at  the  anniversary  of  an 
academical  institution,  recently  established  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
that  metropolis,  for  educating  young  men  for  the  ministry  in  the  Baptist 
denomination.  The  institution  to  which  we  refer  is  under  the  imme- 
diate superintendence  of  the  Rev.  William  Newman.  I  cannot  let  the 
present  occasion  pass,  of  earnestly  and  respectfully  recommending 
this  infant  seminary  to  the  patronage  of  the  religious  public.  There 
was  a  time,  we  are  aware,  when  doubts  were  entertained,  in  some 
serious  minds,  of  the  eligibility  of  training  young  men  for  the  ministry, 
by  a  preparatory  course  of  study.  These  scruples,  we  believe,  have 
long  since  subsided,  and  a  conviction  felt  by  intelligent  men  of  all 
denominations  of  the  expedience,  if  not  the  necessity,  of  instructing 
candidates  for  the  ministry  in  the  principles  of  science  and  literature. 
Learning  is  no  longer  dreaded  as  the  enemy  of  piety  ;  nor  is  it  sup- 
posed that  the  orthodoxy  of  a  public  teacher  of  religion  derives  any 
security  from  his  professed  ignorance  on  every  other  subject.  Along 
with  this  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  a  certain  class  of  Christians, 
circumstances  have  arisen,  connected  with  the  more  general  diffusion 
of  knowledge  and  the  state  of  society,  which  render  a  higher  degree 
of  mental  cultivation  than  was  heretofore  needed  indispensably  requi- 
site. The  Baptist  denomination,  in  common  with  other  Christians, 
have  not  failed  to  advert  to  this  urgent  and  increasing  demand  for 
cultivated  talent  in  their  ministers,  although  they  have  long  had  occa- 
sion to  lament  the  scantiness  and  inadequacy  of  their  means  of  sup- 
plying it.  To  the  Bristol  academy,  the  only  seminary  they  possessed 
till  within  these  few  years,  they  feel  the  highest  obligations,  for  supply- 
ing them  with  a  succession  of  able  and  faithful  pastors,  who  have  done 
honour  to  their  churches :  and  few  things  would  give  the  patrons  and 
founders  of  the  seminary  for  which  I  am  pleading  more  concern,  than 
the  suspicion  of  entertaining  views  unfavourable  to  that  academy. 
They  respect  its  claim  of  seniority;  they  revere  the  character  of  its 
excellent  president ;  they  contemplate,  with  the  highest  satisfaction, 
the  beneficial  result  of  its  operations,  conspicuous  in  most  parts  of  the 
kingdom  :  but  they  are  too  well  acquainted  with  the  disinterested 
motives  of  its  friends  and  benefactors  to  suspect  them  of  wishing  to 
monopolize  the  education  of  ministers  connected  with  the  denomina- 
tion. They  feel  as  little  jealousy  of  the  seminary  recently  established 
in  Yorkshire,  which  has  already  produced  good  fruits,  under  the  cul- 
ture and  superintendence  of  the  excellent  Mr.  Steadman.  Convinced, 
however,  of  there  being  still  occasion  for  an  enlargement  of  the  means 
of  instruction,  and  having,  by  the  munificence  of  a  generous  individual, 
been  presented  with  a  house  and  premises  well  adapted  to  academical 


PREFACE.  133 

purposes,  they  could  feel  no  hesitation  in  accepting  so  noble  a  gift,  or 
in  seconding  the  pious  and  benevolent  design  of  the  founder.  The 
institution  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  subsists  on  a  small  scale.  They 
look  to  the  smiles  of  Heaven,  and  to  the  liberality  of  a  Christian 
public,  and  especially  to  the  piety  and  opulence  of  the  professors  of 
religion  in  the  metropolis,  who  have  never  been  wanting  in  the  zealous 
support  of  institutions  tending  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  and  tlie 
best  interest  of  mankind,  for  such  an  enlargement  of  their  funds  and 
resources  as,  seconded  by  the  efforts  of  its  worthy  tutor,  shall  render 
it  a  permanent  and  extensive  blessing. 

Leicester  December  31,  1811. 


A  DISCOURSE. 


2  Corinthians  iv.  1. 

Therefore,  seeing  we  have  this  ministry,  as  we  have  received  mercy, 
we  faint  not. 

As  you  have  requested  me  to  address  you  upon  the  present  occa- 
sion, I  am  persuaded  you  will  deem  no  apology  necessary  for  the  use 
of  that  freedom  which  the  nature  of  the  service  to  which  you  have 
invited  me  demands,  combined  with  those  sentiments  of  high  esteem 
which  your  character  will  always  inspire.  Having,  with  the  accus 
tomed  solemnities,  been  invested  with  the  pastoral  office  over  this 
church,  you  will  permit  me  to  remind  you  of  the  discouragements  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  supports  on  the  other,  which  you  may  reasonably 
look  for  in  your  ministerial  warfare,  as  far  as  they  are  naturally  sug- 
gested to  us  by  the  passage  of  Scripture  selected  for  the  basis  of  our 
present  discourse. 

If  it  is  necessary  for  the  private  Christian,  before  he  assumes  a 
religious  profession,  to  count  the  cost ;  to  the  minister  it  cannot  be 
less  so,  that  he  may  not  be  surprised  by  unexpected  trials,  nor  dis 
may.ed  at  the  encounter  of  difficulties  for  which  he  has  made  no  prepa- 
ration. A  just  estimate  of  the  nature  and  magnitude  is  an  important 
quahfication  for  the  proper  discharge  of  whatever  function  we  are 
called  to  exert.  As  you  are  neither  a  novice  in  the  ministry,  nor  have 
failed  to  reflect  deeply  on  the  consequences  of  your  present  engage- 
ments, you  will  not  suspect  me  of  attempting,  by  the  hints  which  may 
be  suggested,  to  give  you  information,  but  merely  to  stir  up  your  pure 
mind  by  way  of  remembrance. 

I.  Let  me  request  your  attention  to  the  sources  of  discouragement 
connected  with  the  office  you  have  undertaken. 

I.  They  are  such  as  arise,  in  part,  from  the  nature  of  the  office 
itself,  which  is  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  converting  souls  to  God, 
and  conducting  them  in  the  path  to  eternal  life.  To  you,  in  common 
with  other  Christian  pastors,  is  committed  the  ministry  of  reconciliation, 
the  office  of  promulgating  that  system  of  truth  which  is  designed  to 
renew  the  world  and  sanctify  the  cliurch.  Under  the  highest  autnority 
you  are  enjoined  to  use  your  utmost  eflx)rts  to  open  blind  eyes,  to  turn 
them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from,  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God 


136  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

The  bnro  inemioii  of  surli  an  oniploymeiU  is  enough  to  convince  us  the 
didii-uhics  attnu!in<T  it  arc  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  and  to  make  ua 
exclaiin  witli  an  apostle,  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things? 

The  minds  of  men  are  nattirally  indisposed  to  the  reception  of 
divine  trutii.  The  truths  of  tlic  gospel  are  not  merely  of  a  speculative 
nature,  which  need  onlv  to  be  stated  with  their  proper  evidence  in  order 
to  ensure  their  success  :  there  are  in  the  mind  latent  prejudices  against 
which  they  strongly  militate,  and  which,  when  excited,  naturally  pro- 
duce opposition.  Mankind  are  disposed  to  think  well  of  themselves, 
to  view  their  virtues  through  a  magnifying  medium,  and  to  cast  their 
deficiencies  and  vices  into  the  shade.  Dissatisfied,  as  they  often 
are,  with  their  outward  condition,  they  have  yet  little  or  no  conviction 
of  their  spiritual  wants;  but  with  respect  to  these  are  ready  to  im- 
affine,  with  the  Laodiceans,  that  they  are  rich  and  increased  in  goods, 
and  have  need  of  nothing.  Hence  it  is  with  extreme  difficulty  they 
are  brought  to  acquiesce  in  the  humiliating  representations  made  by 
the  oracles  of  God  of  their  native  g-uilt  and  misery.  They  will  readily 
confess  they  are  not  perfectly  innocent  or  faultless;  they  have  their 
imperfections  as  Avell  as  others,  but  they  are  far  from  believing  that 
thev  are  actually  under  the  Avraih  and  displeasure  of  the  Almighty. 
Thev  feel,  on  the  whole,  satisfied  with  themselves,  and,  by  setting 
their  supposed  good  qualities  and  actions  against  their  bad  ones, 
contrive  to  adjust  their  account  in  such  a  manner  as  leaves  a  consider- 
able balance  in  their  favour.  On  the  mercy  of  God  they  feel  no 
objection  to  profess  their  reliance ;  deeming  it  more  decent,  and  even 
more  safe,  than  to  challenge  his  justice  ;  but  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that 
ihe  mercy  of  which  they  speak  is  of  such  a  nature,  that  they  would 
look  upon  it  as  an  absurdity  to  suppose  it  could  be  withheld.  In 
short,  they  are  the  whole  who  need  no  physician. 

The  gospel  presupposes  a  charge  of  guilt ;  it  assumes,  as  an  mdu- 
bitable  fact,  the  universal  apostacy  of  our  race,  and  its  consequent 
liability  to  perish  under  the  stroke  of  the  divine  anger ;  nor  can  you 
acquit'yourself  of  the  imputation  of  handling  the  word  of  God  deceit- 
fuUv,  if,  from  false  delicacy  or  mistaken  tenderness,  you  neglect  the 
frequent  inculcation  of  this  momentous  truth.  You  will  find  it,  how- 
ever, no  easy  matter  to  fasten  the  charge  on  the  conscience ;  which, 
when  it  seems  to  be  admitted,  will  often  amount  to  nothing  more  than 
a  vague  and  general  acknowledgment,  which  leaves  the  heart  quite 
unaffected.  To  convince  effectually  is,  indeed,  the  Avork  of  a  superior 
agent. 

The  very  attempt  to  produce  that  humiliating  sense  of  unw^orthiness 
and  weakness  which  is  essential  to  a  due  reception  of  the  gospel  will 
frequently  excite  disgust,  should  it  terminate  in  no  worse  consequences. 
You  will  be  reproached  as  the  messenger  of  evil  tidings,  and  suspected 
of  taking  a  pleasure  in  overwhelming  the  soul  with  dark  and  melan- 
choly forebodings.  By  a  part  of  your  hearers  you  will  possibly  be 
regarded  as  an  unnatural  character,  and  as  having  in  your  religion  a 
tincture  of  what  is  savage  and  inhuman;  in  consequence  of  which, 
they  who  refuse  to  profit  by  your  admonitions  will  be  apt  to  apply  to 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  137 

you  the  language  of  the  king  of  Israel,  /  hate  him,  for  he  always  pro- 
phtaieth  evil  of  me,  and  not  good.  Of  the  common  apostacy,  one  of 
the  most  distiiiguisliing  features  is,  a  stupefaction  and  insensibility  in 
relation  to  whatever  is  of  a  spiritual  nature,  together  with  a  levity 
and  carelessness  which  it  requires  the  utmost  effort  of  the  Christian 
ministry  to  dispel. 

If  you  should  be  successful  in  awakening  a  salutary  concern  in  the 
breasts  of  your  hearers,  and  exciting  them  to  inquire  what  they  must 
do  to  be  saved,  fresh  ditHculties  await  you.  The  enemy  will  leave 
no  artifice  untried  to  divert  it,  and  to  wear  it  of!"  by  such  a  sucrcession 
of  cares  and  vanities,  that  as  much  attention  and  address  will  be 
requisite  to  maintain  it  till  it  issues  in  a  saving  efTect,  as  to  produce 
it  at  first.  There  are  many  who,  after  appearing  for  a  time  earnestly 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  salvation,  have,  in  consequence  of  stifling 
convictions,  become  more  callous  and  insensible  than  ever,  as  iron  is 
hardened  in  the  fire.  The  grand  scope  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  to 
bruig  men  home  to  Christ ;  but  ere  they  arrive  thither,  there  are  nu- 
merous by-paths  into  which  those  who  are  awakened  are  in  danger  of 
diverting,  and  of  finding  a  delusive  repose,  without  couiing  as  humble 
penitents  to  the  foot  of  the  cross.  They  are  equally  in  danger  of 
catchiug  at  premature  consolation,  and  of  sinking  into  listless  despond- 
ency. Withhold  thy  throat  from  thirst,  said  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
and  thy  foot  from  being  unshod;  hut  thou  saidst,  there  is  no  hope,  for 
I  have  loved  strangers,  and  after  them  I  must  go.  In  the  pursuit  of 
eternal  good,  the  heart  is  extremely  inconstant  and  irresolute  ;  easily 
prevailed  on,  when  the  peace  it  is  in  quest  of  is  delayed,  to  desist  from 
further  seeking.  During  the  first  serious  impressions,  the  light  which 
unveils  futurily  often  shines  wilh  too  feeble  a  ray  to  produce  that 
perfect  and  plenary  conviction  which  f)ermits  the  mind  no  longer  to 
vacillate ;  and  the  fascination  of  sensible  objects  eclipses  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come.  Nor  is  ther»  less  to  be  apprehended  from  any 
other  quarter.  The  conscience,  roused  to  a  just  sense  of  the  danger 
to  which  the  sinner  is  exposed  by  his  violation  of  the  laws  of  God,  is 
apt  to  derive  consolation  from  this  very  uneasiness;  by  which  means 
it  is  possible  that  the  alarm,  which  is  chiefly  valuable  on  account  of 
its  tendency  to  produce  a  consent  to  the  overtures  of  the  gospel,  may 
ultimately  lull  the  mind  into  a  deceitful  repose.  The  number,  we  fear, 
is  not  small  of  those  who,  though  they  have  never  experienced  a 
saving  change,  are  yet  under  no  apprehensions  respecting  their  state, 
merely  because  they  can  remember  the  time  when  they  felt  poignant 
convictions.  Mistaking  what  are  usually  the  preliminary  steps  to 
conversion  for  conversion  itself,  they  deduce  from  their  former  appre- 
hensions an  antidote  against  present  fears,  and  from  past  prognostics 
of  danger  an  omen  of  their  future  safety.  With  persons  of  this 
description  the  flashes  of  a  superficial  joy,  arising  from  a  presumption 
of  being  already  pardoned,  accompanic;d  with  some  slight  and  transien 
relishes  of  the  word  of  God,  are  suljstiluted  for  that  new  birth,  and 
that  lively  trust  in  the  Redeemer,  to  which  the  promise  of  salvation 
inseparably  belongs.     Such  were  those  who  received  the  seed  intc 


138  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

stonv  jiTOUiul,  and  who,  li;n  iiig  licard  the  word  of  God,  anon  icith  joij 
rectned  it,  but  /mvim:^  no  drpth  of  eart/i,  it  soo?i  witltcrcd  aicai/.  Others 
?ndeavour  to  sooth  llic  anguish  of  their  minds  by  a  punctual  perionn 
anee  of  oertaui  religious  exercises,  and  a  partial  reformation  of  con- 
duct ;  in  consequence  of  which  they  sink  into  mere  formalists ;  and 
confoimding  the  instruments  of  religion  with  the  end,  their  apj)arent 
melioration  of  character  diverts  their  attention  from  their  real  wants, 
and,  bv  making  them  insensible  of  the  extent  of  their  malady,  obstructs 
tlieir  cure.  In*;tcad  of  imploring  the  assistance  of  the  great  Physician, 
and  implicitly  complying  with  his  prescriptions,  they  have  recourse  to 
palliatives,  which  assuage  the  anguish  and  the  smart,  without  reaching 
the  seat  or  touching  the  core  of  the  disorder. 

Were  the  change  which  the  gospel  proposes  to  efi'ect  less  funda 
mental  and  extensive  than  it  is,  we  might  the  more  easily  flatter  our 
selves  with  being  able  to  carry  its  designs  into  execution.  Did  it  aim 
merely  to  polisli  the  exterior,  to  tame  the  wildness  and  prune  the 
luxuriance  of  nature  without  the  implanting  of  a  new  principle,  tlie 
undertaking  would  be  less  arduous.  But  its  scope  is  much  higher; 
it  proposes,  not  merely  to  reform,  but  to  renew  ;  not  so  much  to  repair 
the  moral  edifice  as  to  build  it  afresh ;  not  merely,  by  the  remon- 
strances of  reason  and  the  dictates  of  prudence,  to  engage  men  to  lay 
a  restraint  upon  their  vices,  but,  by  the  inspiration  of  truth,  to  become 
new  creatures.  The  effects  of  the  gospel  on  the  heart  are  compared, 
by  the  prophet,  to  the  planting  of  a  wilderness,  where  what  was  bar- 
renness and  desolation  before  is  replenished  with  new  productions. 
/  ivill  plant  in  the  wilderness  the  cedar-tree,  the  shittah-trce,  and  the 
myrtle-tree  ;  I  will  set  in  the  desert  the  fir-tree,  the  pine-tree,  and  the 
box-tree  together,  that  they  may  know,  and  consider,  and  understand 
that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  hath  done  this.  Although  the  change  is 
frequently  slow,  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  effecting  it,  may  proceed  by 
imperceptible  steps  and  gentle  insinuations,  the  issue  is  invariably  the 
same  ;  nor  can  any  representation  do  justice  to  hs  dignity.  How  great 
the  skill  requisite  in  those  who  are  to  be  the  instruments  of  producing  it! 

To  arrest  the  attention  of  the  careless,  to  subdue  the  pride  and 
soften  the  obduracy  of  the  human  heart,  so  that  it  sliall  stoop  to  the 
authority  of  an  unseen  Saviom-,  is  a  task  which  surpasses  the  utmost 
efforts  of  human  ability,  unaided  by  a  superior  power.  In  attempting 
to  realize  the  design  of  the  Christian  ministry,  we  are  proposing  to 
call  the  attention  of  men  from  the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal 
to  things  unseen  and  eternal ;  to  conduct  them  from  a  life  of  sense  to 
a  life  of  faith;  to  subdue,  or  weaken  at  least,  the  influence  of  a  world, 
which,  being  always  present,  is  incessantly  appealing  to  the  senses, 
and  soliciting  the  heart,  in  favour  of  a  state  whose  very  existence  is 
ascertained  only  by  testimony.  We  call  upon  them  to  crucify  the 
flesh  with  its  affections  and  hists,  to  deny  the  strongest  and  most 
inveterate  propensities,  and  to  renounce  the  enjoyments  w  hich  they 
have  tasted  and  felt  for  the  sake  of  a  happiness  to  which  they  have 
no  relish.  We  must  charge  them,  as  they  value  their  salvation,  not 
10  love  the  world,  who  have  been  accustomed  to  make  it  the  sole  object 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  139 

of  their  attachment,  aiid  to  return  to  their  allegiance  to  that  almighty 
and  invisible  Ruler  from  whom  they  have  deeply  revoUed.  We  pre- 
sent to  them,  it  is  true,  a  feast  of  fat  things,  of  wine,  on  the  lees  well 
refined ;  we  invite  tiiera  to  entertainments  more  ample  and  exquisite 
than,  but  for  the  gospel,  it  had  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  con- 
ceive ;  but  we  address  our  invitations  to  mmds  fatally  indisposed, 
alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  with  'httle  sense  of  the  value  of  his 
favour,  and  no  delight  in  his  converse.  The  souls  we  address,  though 
originally  formed  for  these  enjoyments,  and  utterly  incapable  of  being 
happy  without  them,  have  lost,  through  the  fall,  that  right  taste  and 
apprehension  of  things  which  is  requisite  for  the  due  appreciation  of 
these  blessings ;  and,  like  Ezekiel,  we  prophesy  to  dry  bones  in  the 
valley  of  Vision,  which  will  never  hve  but  under  the  visitation  of  that 
breath  which  bloweth  where  it  listeth.  This  indisposition  to  the  things 
of  God,  so  radical  and  incurable  by  human  power,  as  it  has  been  a 
frequent  source  of  discouragement  to  the  faithful  minister,  so  it  would 
prove  an  invincible  obstacle  to  success,  did  that  success  depend  upon 
human  agency. 

2.  To  these  difficulties,  which  arise  from  the  nature  of  the  work, 
abstractedly  considered,  must  be  added  those  which  are  modified  by  a 
variety  of  circumstances,  and  which  result  from  that  diversity  of  tem- 
per, character,  and  situation  which  prevails  in  our  auditory.  To  the 
several  classes  of  which  it  consists,  it  is  necessary  rightly  to  divide 
the  word  of  truth,  and  give  to  every  one  his  portion  of  meat  in  due  sea- 
son. The  epidemic  malady  of  our  nature  assumes  so  many  shapes, 
and  appears  under  such  a  variety  of  symptoms,  that  these  may  be 
considered  as  so  many  distinct  diseases,  which  demand  a  proportionate 
variety  in  the  method  of  treatment ;  nor  will  the  same  prescription  suit 
all  cases.  A  different  set  of  truths,  a  different  mode  of  address  is 
requisite  to  rouse  the  careless,  to  beat  down  the  arrogance  of  a  self- 
justifying  spirit  from  what  is  necessary  to  comfort  the  humble  and 
contrite  in  heart ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  say  which  we  should  most  anxiously 
guard  against,  the  infusion  of  a  false  peace,  or  inflaming  the  wounds 
which  we  ought  to  heal.  A  loose  and  indiscriminate  manner  of  apply- 
ing the  promises  and  threatenings  of  the  gospel  is  ill-judged  and  per- 
nicious ;  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive  a  more  effectual  method  of 
depriving  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  of  its  edge,  than  adopting  that  lax 
generality  of  representation  which  leaves  its  hearer  nothing  to  apply, 
presents  no  incentive  to  self-examination,  and,  besides  its  utter  ineffi- 
ciency, disgusts  by  the  ignorance  of  human  nature,  or  the  disregard 
to  its  best  interests,  it  infallibly  betrays.  Without  descending  to  such 
a  minute  specification  of  circumstances  as  shall  make  our  addresses 
personal,  they  ought  unquestionably  to  be  characteristic,  that  the  con- 
science of  the  audience  may  feel  the  hand  of  the  preacher  searching 
it,  and  every  individual  know  where  to  class  himself.  The  preacher 
wiio  aims  at  doing  good  will  endeavour,  above  all  things,  to  insulate 
his  hearers,  to  place  each  of  them  apart,  and  render  it  impossible  for 
him  to  escape  by  losing  limself  in  the  crowd.  At  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, the  attention  excited  by  the  surrounding  scene,  the  strange  aspect 


140  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

of  naturp,  the  dissolution  of  the  elements,  and  the  last  tninip  Mill  ha'-* 
no  othoi  cllVct  than  to  cause  the  reflections  of  the  sinnc^r  to  return 
M-ith  a  more  overwhchning  tide  on  his  own  character,  his  sentence; 
his  unchanging  dostiu)' ;  and  amid  the  innumerable  millions  who  s^"*- 
round  him,  he  will  mourn  apart.  It  is  tiius  the  Christian  minister 
shoulil  endeavoiu'  to  prepare  the  tribunal  of  conscience,  and  turn  the 
eyes  of  everv  one  of  his  hearers  on  himself. 

To  men  of  difl'crent  casts  and  complexions,  it  is  obvious,  a  corres- 
ponding dilference  in  the  selection  of  topics  and  the  method  of  appeal 
is  requisite.  Some  are  only  capable  of  digesting  the  first  princijiles 
of  religion,  on  whom  it  is  necessary  often  to  inculcate  the  same  les- 
sons with  the  reiteration  of  parental  solicitude:  there  arc  others  of  a 
wider  grasp  of  comprehension,  who  must  be  indulged  with  an  ampler 
variety,  and  to  whom  views  of  religion  less  obvious,  less  obtrusive, 
and  demanding  a  more  vigorous  exercise  of  the  understanding,  are 
peculiarly  adapted.  Some  are  accustomed  to  contemplate  every  sub- 
ject in  a  light  so  cool  and  argumentative,  that  they  are  not  easily 
impressed  with  any  tiling  which  is  not  presented  in  the  garb  of  rea- 
soning ;  nor  apt,  though  firm  believers  in  revelation,  to  be  strongly 
moved  by  naked  assertions  even  from  that  quarter.  There  are  others 
of  a  softer  temperament  who  are  more  easily  won  by  tender  strokes 
of  pathos.  Minds  of  an  obdurate  make,  and  which  have  been  ren- 
dered callous  by  long  habits  of  vice,  must  be  appalled  and  subdued  by 
the  terrors  of  the  Lord ;  while  others  are  capable  of  being  drawn  loith 
the  cords  of  love,  and  with  the  hands  of  a  man.  Some  we  must  save 
with  fear,  plucking  them  out  of  the  fire ;  on  others  ice  must  have  com- 
passion, making  a  difference.  You  will  recollect  that  he  who  spake 
as  never  man  spake,  mild,  gentle,  insinuating  in  his  addresses  to  the 
multitude,  reserved  the  thunder  of  his  denunciations  for  sanctimonious 
hypocrites.  In  this  part  of  our  ministerial  function  we  shall  do  well 
to  imitate  St.  Paul,  who  became  "  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might 
win  some  ;"  combining,  in  his  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  the 
utmost  simplicity  of  intention  with  the  utmost  versatility  of  address. 

May  I  be  permitted  to  remark,  though  it  seem  a  digression,  that  in 
the  mode  of  conducting  our  public  ministrations,  we  are,  perhaps,  loo 
formal  and  mechanical ;  that  in  the  distribution  of  the  matter  of  our 
sermons  we  indulge  too  little  variety,  and,  exposing  our  plan  in  all  its 
parts,  abate  the  edge  of  curiosity  by  enabling  the  hearer  to  anticipate 
what  we  intend  to  advance.  Wh)'-  should  that  force  which  surprise 
gives  to  every  emotion  derived  from  just  and  affecting  sentiments  be 
banished  from  the  pulpit,  when  it  is  found  of  such  moment  in  every 
other  kind  of  public  address  ?  I  cannot  but  imagine  the  first  preachers 
of  the  gospel  appeared  before  their  audience  with  a  more  free  and 
unfettered  air  than  is  consistent  with  the  narro\v  trammels  to  which, 
in  these  latter  ages,  discourses  from  the  pulpit  are  confined.  The 
sublime  emotions  with  which  they  were  fraught  would  have  rendered 
them  impatient  of  such  restrictions  ;  nor  could  ihey  suffer  the  impetu- 
ous stream  of  argument,  expostulation,  and  pathos  to  be  weakened, 
by  diverting  it  into  the  artificial  reservoirs  prepared  in  the  heads  and 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  141 

particulars  of  a  modern  sermon.  Method,  we  are  aware,  is  an  essen- 
tial ingredient  in  every  discourse  designed  for  the  instruction  of  man- 
kind, but  it  ought  never  to  force  itself  on  the  attention  as  an  object 
apart ;  never  appear  to  be  an  end,  instead  of  an  instrument ;  or  beget 
a  suspicion  of  the  sentiments  being  introduced  for  the  sake  of  the 
method  not  the  method  for  the  sentiments.  Let  the  experiment  be 
tried  on  some  of  the  best  specimens  of  ancient  eloquence ;  let  an 
oration  of  Cicero  or  Demosthenes  be  stretched  upon  a  Procrustes'  bed 
of  this  sort,  and,  if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken,  the  (lame  and  enthu- 
siasm which  have  excited  admiration  in  all  ages  will  instantly  evapo- 
rate ;  yet  no  one  perceives  a  want  of  method  in  these  immortal  com- 
positions, nor  can  any  thing  be  conceived  more  remote  from  incoherent 
rhapsody. 

To  return  to  the  subject:  whatever  the  mode  of  address,  or  what- 
ever the  choice  of  topics,  there  are  two  qualities  inseparable  from  reli- 
gious instruction, — these  are  seriousness  and  affection.  In  the  most 
awful  denunciations  of  the  divine  displeasure,  an  air  of  unaffected  ten- 
derness should  be  preserved,  that  while  with  unsparing  fidelity  we 
declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God,  it  may  appear  we  are  actuated  by 
a  genuine  spirit  of  compassion.  A  hard  and  unfeeling  manner  of 
denouncing  the  threatenings  of  the  word  of  God  is  not  only  barbarous 
and  inhuman,  but  calculated,  by  inspiring  disgust,  to  rob  them  of  all 
their  efficacy.  If  the  awful  pan  of  our  message,  which  may  be  styled 
the  burden  of  the  Lord,  ever  fall  with  due  weight  on  our  hearers,  it 
will  be  when  it  is  delivered  with  a  trembling  hand  and  fahering  lips  ; 
and  we  may  then  expect  them  to  realize  its  solemn  import  when  they 
perceive  that  we  ourselves  are  ready  to  sink  under  it.  "  Of  whom  I 
have  told  you  before,"  said  St.  Paul,  "  and  now  tell  you  weeping,  tha'. 
they  are  the  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ."  What  force  does  that 
affecting  declaration  derive  from  these  tears  !  An  affectionate  manner 
insinuates  itself  into  the  heart,  renders  it  soft  and  pliable,  and  disposes 
it  to  imbibe  the  sentiments  and  follow  the  impulse  of  the  speaker. 
Whoever  has  attended  to  the  effect  of  addresses  from  the  pulpit  must 
have  perceived  liow  much  of  their  impression  depends  upon  this  quality, 
which  gives  to  sentiments  comparatively  trite  a  power  over  the  mind 
beyond  what  the  most  striking  and  original  conceptions  possess  with- 
out it. 

Near  akin  to  this,  and  not  inferior  in  importance,  is  the  second  quality 
we  mentioned,  seriousness.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  remark,  how 
offensive  and  unnatural  is  every  violation  of  it  in  a  religious  discourse, 
which  is,  however,  of  wider  extent  than  is  generally  imagined,  including 
not  merely  jesting,  buflbonery,  and  undisguised  levity  of  every  sort, 
but  also  whatsoever,  in  composition  or  manner,  is  inconsistent  with 
the  supposition  of  the  speaker  being  deeply  in  earnest ;  such  as  spark- 
ling ornaments,  far-f(?t(;hed  images,  and  that  exuberance  of  flowers 
which  seems  evidently  designed  to  gratify  the  fancy  rather  than  to 
touch  tlie  heart.  When  St.  Paid  recommends  to  Timothy  that  sound 
speech  which  cannot  be  condemned,  it  is  probable  he  refers  as  mrch  to 
Jhe  propriety  of  the  vehicle  as  to  the  purity  of  the  instruction.     'Phere 


142  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

is,  permit  nie  to  roinind  you,  a  sober  dignity  liolh  of  lanounjo^e  and  of 
senlinitMU  suited  to  tlie  representations  of  reliyioii  in  all  its  variety  of 
topies,  from  which  the  inspired  writers  never  depart,  and  which  it  will 
be  our  wisdom  to  imitate.  In  describing  the  pleasures  of  devotion,  oi 
'lie  joys  of  heaven,  there  is  nothing  weak,  sickly,  or  elT'eniinale:  a 
chaste  severity  pervades  their  delineations,  and  whatever  tliey  say 
appears  to  emanate  from  a  serious  mind,  accustomed  to  the  contem- 
plation of  great  objects  without  ever  sinking  under  them  from  imbe 
cilitv,  or  attempting  to  supply  a  deficiency  ol"  interest  by  puerile  exag- 
gerations and  feeble  ornaments.  The  exquisite  propriety  of  their 
representations  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  their  habitual  seriousness  ; 
and  the  latter  to  their  seeing  things  as  they  are. 

3.  Having  touched  on  the  principal  ditlieulties  attending  the  pi/hhc 
exercise  of  the  ministry,  it  may  be  expected  something  will  be  said  on 
its  more  private  functions.  To  affirm  it  to  be  the  duty  of  a  pastor  to 
visit  his  people  often  is,  perhaps,  affirming  too  much  ;  the  more  fre- 
quently he  converses  with  them,  however,  provided  his  conversation 
be  properly  conducted,  the  more  will  his  person  be  endeared  and  his 
ministry  acceptable.  The  seasonable  introduction  of  religious  topics 
is  often  of  such  admirable  use,  that  there  are  few  qualities  more  envia- 
ble than  the  talent  of  "teaching  from  house  to  house;"  though  the 
modern  state  of  manners,  I  am  aware,  has  rendered  this  branch  of 
the  pastoral  office  much  more  difficult  than  in  former  times.  In  a 
country  village,  where  there  is  more  simplicity,  less  dissipation,  and 
less  hurry  of  business  than  in  large  towns,  prudent  exertions  of  this 
kind  may  be  considered  as  eminently  proper  and  beneficial.  The 
extent  to  which  they  should  be  carried  must  be  determined  by  circum- 
stances, without  attempting  to  prescribe  any  other  rule  than  this,  that 
the  conversation  of  a  Christian  minister  should  be  always  such  as  is 
adapted  to  strengthen,  not  impair,  the  impression  of  his  public  instruc 
tions.  Though  it  is  not  necessary  nor  expedient  for  him  to  be  always 
conversing  on  the  subject  of  religion,  his  conversation  should  invarial)ly 
have  a  religious  tendency ;  that  whatever  excursions  he  indulges,  the 
return  to  serioxis  topics  may  be  easy  and  natural.  The  whole  cast  of 
his  character  should  be  such  as  is  adapted  to  give  weight  to  the  exer- 
cise of  his  ministerial  functions.  On  the  peculiar  force  with  which 
the  obligations  of  virtue  attach  to  a  Christian  teacher,  the  purity  and 
correctness  of  your  own  conduct,  while  it  would  imbolden  me  to  speak 
with  the  greater  freedom,  make  it  less  necessary  for  me  to  insist. 
You  are  aware  that  moral  delinquency  in  him  produces  a  sensation 
as  when  an  armour-bearer  fainteth  ;  that  he  can  neither  stand  nor  fall 
by  himself;  and  that  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  deviate  essentially 
from  the  path  of  rectitude  without  incurring  the  guilt  and  infamy  of 
Jeroboam,  who  is  never  mentioned  but  to  be  stigmatized  as  he  tv/to 
taught  Israel  to  sin.  Be  thou  an  ensample  to  the  jlock  in  faith,  in 
purity,  in  conversation,  in  doctrine,  in  charity.  Instead  of  satisfying 
ourselves  in  the  acquisition  of  virtue  with  the  attainments  of  a  learner, 
we  must  aspire  to  the  perfection  of  a  master,  and  give  to  our  conduct 
the  correctness  of  a  pattern.     We  are  called  to  such  a  conquest  over 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  143 

the  world,  and  such  an  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  as  shall  not 
merely  exempt  us  from  censure,  but  excite  to  emulation.  Ye  are  the 
salt  of  the  earth,  ye  are  the  light  of  the  world,  said  our  Saviour  to  his 
disciples,  whom  he  was  about  to  send  forth  in  the  character  of  public 
teachers.  As  persons  to  whom  the  conduct  of  souls  is  committed, 
we  caimot  make  a  wrong  step  without  endangering  the  interests  of 
others ;  so  that  if  we  neglect  to  take  our  soundings  and  inspect  our 
chart,  ours  is  the  misconduct  of  the  pilot,  who  is  denied  the  privilege 
of  perishing  alone.  The  immoral  conduct  of  a  Christian  minister  is 
little  less  than  a  public  triumph  over  the  religion  he  inculcates  :  and 
when  we  recollect  the  frailty  of  our  nature,  the  snares  to  which  we 
are  exposed,  and  the  wiles  of  our  adversary,  who  will  proportion  his 
efforts  to  the  advantages  resulting  from  his  success,  we  must  be  aware 
how  much  the  necessity  of  maintaining  an  exemplary  conduct  adds  to 
the  difficulty  of  the  ministerial  function. 

With  the  utmost  propriety  of  conduct,  and  the  greatest  skill  exerted 
in  your  work,  we  dare  not  flatter  you  with  the  prospect  of  unmingled 
success.  Under  the  most  judicious  metliod  of  treatment,  the  maladies 
of  some  will  prove  incurable,  and  they  will  perish  under  your  hand. 
While  to  some  the  gospel  is  a  savour  of  life  unto  life,  to  others  it  will 
prove  the  savour  of  death  unto  death;  and  in  the  course  of  your  labours 
you  will  meet  with  frequent  disappointments  where  you  have  formed 
the  most  sanguine  expectations.  Some  who  did  run  well  will  afterward 
be  hindered  ;  and  of  others,  who  have  clean  escaped  the  pollutions  of  the 
world  through  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
bei7ig  afterward  entangled  therein,  the  latter  end  loill  be  worse  than  the 
beginning.  Many  a  Demas,  it  is  probable,  will  forsake  you,  having 
loved  this  present  world;  and  by  many  of  your  hearers,  who  now  evince 
the  most  zealous  attachment,  you  may  hereafter  be  considered  as  an 
enemy,  because  you  tell  them  the  truth.  In  certain  instances,  your 
ministry  will  be  attended  with  conseq_uences  which  you  cannot  con- 
template without  deep  concern ;  for  the  sword  of  the  spirit  is  an  awful 
weapon,  which  will  exert,  where  it  fails  to  inflict  a  salutary  wound,  its 
destructive  edge.  Against  those  of  your  hearers  who  reject  your 
message,  though  now  an  ambassador  of  peace,  and  often  a  weeping 
suppliant  at  their  feet,  you  will  ere  long  appear  a  swift  witness  before 
God,  and  be  compelled,  by  your  voice,  to  exasperate  the  accents  of 
vengeance,  and  augment  the  vials  of  wrath.  You  are  set  for  the  rising 
and  falling  of  many  in  Israel. 

II.  But  it  is  time  to  turn  to  a  more  pleasing  part  of  our  subject,  and 
to  remind  you  uf  some  of  the  supports  by  which  these  sources  of 
discouragement  are  balanced. 

1.  The  office  you  have  undertaken  is  of  divine  institution.  The 
unhappy  disputes  which  have  prevailed  in  the  church  respecting  the 
proper  channels  for  conveying,  and  the  legitimate  mode  of  vesting  it, 
are  so  far  from  weakening  or  perplexing  the  evidence  of  this  truth, 
chat  they  may  be  considered  as  so  many  concurrent  suffrages  in  its 
avour ;  since  it  is  allowed  on  all  hands  that  the  Christian  ministry 


144  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

is  an  onlinance  of  God  ;  an  expedient  for  tlie  iinprovenient  of  man- 
kind, of  his  devising,  and  supported  by  his  authority.  But  of  that 
wisdom  wliirh  pervades  the  works  of  God,  the  church  is  the  principal 
scene  ;  to  the  intent,  saith  the  apostle,  that  to  principalities  and  powers 
miirht  be  made  known  hy  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  Hence 
we  may  be  certain  tliat  so  leading  a  branch  of  its  constitution  as  that 
under  our  consrderaiion  cannot  fail  of  being  adapted  in  the  best 
possible  manner  to  promote  the  interest  of  religion  ;  nor  is  it  difficult 
to  perceive,  that  if  men  are  to  be  wrought  upon  by  reason  and  per- 
sua:>ion,  the  setting  apart  an  order  for  the  express  purpose  of  instruct- 
ing them  in  the  concerns  of  salvation  must  have  a  beneficial  tendency; 
an  order,  be  it  remembered,  not  appointed  like  the  priests  of  pagan 
antiquity  for  the  performance  of  ceremonies,  but  for  the  inculcation 
of  truth  ;  not  to  conduct  the  pomp  of  lustrations  and  sacrifices,  but  to 
watch  for  sotils  as  those  that  inust  give  an  account.  Nothing  similar  to 
this  was  known  in  the  heathen  religions  ;  it  is  peculiar  to  Christianity, 
and  evincing  the  simple  wisdom  of  its  author,  is  as  original  in  its  con- 
ception as  it  is  admirable  in  its  effects.  Its  simplicity,  its  distance 
from  whatever  is  dazzling  in  the  eyes  of  mankind,  is  one  of  its  highest 
recommendations ;  for  the  Christian  minister  is  beautifully  compared 
to  a  fisherman,  who  would  only  be  embarrassed  by  those  instruments 
and  appendages  w'hich  belong  to  more  splendid,  but  less  useful 
emploj'ments. 

2.  Another  consideration  calculated  to  afford  us  encouragement  is, 
that  the  materials  of  our  work  are  ready  furnished  to  our  hand,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  of  a  nature  admirably  adapted  to  our  purpose.  Our 
office  is  that  of  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom ;  our  duty, 
faitlifully  to  dispense  the  stores  which  superior  wisdom  and  opulence 
have  provided.  It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  stretch  our  invention  in 
the  discovery  of  topics  and  argumeiits  fitted  to  move  the  mind  and 
impel  it  in  a  right  direction,  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  past  expe- 
rience, would  be  a  most  unpromising  undertaking.  A  doctrine,  full, 
pure,  perfect,  to  which  nothing  can  be  added  without  debasing  its 
spirit,  nothing  taken  away  without  impairing  its  proportions,  is  com- 
mitted to  our  trust,  to  be  retained  and  preserved  just  as  we  have 
received  it,  and  delivered  to  our  hearers  in  all  its  primitive  simplicity. 
Like  the  works  of  nature,  while  it  exhibits  at  first  view  an  impress 
of  its  author,  in  the  unequivocal  character  it  bears  of  purity  and 
majesty,  it  improves  on  a  closer  examination ;  and  the  more  deeply  it 
is  investigated  the  more  the  wisdom  of  the  contrivance,  in  its  exquisite 
adaptation  to  the  state  and  condition  of  mankind,  becomes  conspicuous. 
A.S  the  discover}- of  a  way  of  salvation  for  a  fallen  race,  of  the  method 
by  which  a  guilty  and  degenerate  creature  may  recover  the  image  and 
favour  of  his  Maker,  which  we  must  ever  remember  is  its  most  essential 
characteristic,  what  is  w^anting  to  its  perfection  ?  what  information  or 
assurance  beyond  what  it  contains,  calculated  to  awe,  enlighten,  con- 
vince, and  encourage  ?  The  facts  it  exhibits,  supported  by  clear  and 
indubitable  testimony,  are  more  extraordinary'  than  ever  entered  the 
mind  of  man  in  its  widest  excursions,  combining  all  the  sobrietv  of 


Of  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  145 

truth  with  more  than  the  grandeur  of  fiction ;  and  the  doctrines  aon- 
npcted  with  these  facts,  by  the  easiest  and  most  natural  inference,  are 
of  intiaite  moment.  To  a  serious  mind,  the  truths  of  the  Christian 
religion  appear  with  such  an  air  of  unaflected  greatness,  that  in  com- 
parison of  these  all  other  speculations  and  reasonings  seem  like  the 
amusements  of  childhood.  When  the  Deity,  the  incarnation,  the  atone- 
ment, the  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  sanctiticalion  of  the 
church,  and  the  prospects  of  glory  have  engaged  our  contemplation, 
we  feel,  in  turning  our  attention  to  other  objects,  a  strange  descent, 
and  perceive,  widi  the  certainty  of  demonstration,  that  as  the  earth  is 
too  narrow  for  the  full  development  of  these  mysteries,  they  are 
destined  by  their  consequences  and  efl'ects  to  impregnate  an  eternal 
duration.  We  are  not  at  all  surprised  at  finding  the  ancient  prophets 
searched  into  these  mysteries  with  great  but  unsuccessful  diligence, 
that  the  angels  desire  to  look  into  them,  or  that  the  apostles  were  lost 
m  the  contemplation  of  those  riches  which  they  proclaimed  and  im- 
parted. Are  you  desirous  of  fixing  the  attention  of  your  hearers 
strongly  on  their  everlasting  concerns  ?  No  peculiar  refinement  of 
thought,  no  subtlety  of  reasoning,  much  less  the  pompous  exaggera- 
tions of  secular  eloquence  are  wanted  for  that  purpose  ;  you  have 
only  to  imbibe  deeply  the  mind  of  Christ,  to  let  his  doctrine  enlighten, 
his  love  inspire  your  heart,  and  your  situation,  in  comparison. of  other 
speakers,  will  resemble  that  of  the  angel  of  the  Apocalypse,  who  was 
seen  standing  in  the  sun.  Draw  your  instructions  immediately  from 
the  Bible ;  the  more  immediately  they  are  derived  from  the  source, 
and  the  less  they  are  tinctured  with  human  distinctions  and  refine- 
ments, the  more  salutary,  and  the  more  efiicacious.  Let  them  be 
taken  fresh  from  the  spring.  Y(m,  I  am  persuaded,  will  not  satisfy 
yourself  with  the  study  of  Christianity  in  narrow,  jejune  abridgments 
and  systems,  but  contemplate  it  in  its  utmost  extent,  as  it  subsists  in 
the  sacred  oracles  ;  and  in  investigating  these  you  will  permit  your 
reason  and  conscience  an  operation  as- free  and  unfettered  as  if  none 
had  examined  them  before.  The  neglect  of  this  produces,  too  often, 
an  artificial  scarcity,  where  some  of  the  choicest  provisions  of  the 
household  are  exploded  or  overlooked. 

When  we  inculcate,  with  so  much  earnestness,  an  attention  to  the 
mind  of  Christ  as  exhibited  in  the  Scriptures,  let  us  not  be  understood 
to  exclude  his  precepts,  or  to  countenance,  for  a  moment,  the  too  fre- 
quent neglect  of  Christian  morality.  While  you  delight  in  displaying 
the  riches  of  divine  grace,  conspicuous  in  the  work  of  redemption,  as 
•the  grand  nioti.ve  to  love  and  trust  in  the  Redeemer,  you  will  not  forget 
frequently  to  admonish  your  hearers  that  he  only  loveth  him  who 
keepeth  his  sayings;  the  illustration  of  which,  in  their  bearings  upon 
the  different  relations  and  circumstances  of  life,  will  form,  if  you 
follow  the  apostolic  example,  a  most  important  branch  of  your  ministry. 
Not  content  with  committing  the  obligation  of  morality  to  the  arbitra- 
tion of  feeling,  much  less  with  faintly  hinting  at  it,  as  an  obvious  inference 
from  orthodox  doctrine,  you  will  illustrate  its  principles  with  an  energy, 
a  copiousness,  a  fulness  of  detail  proportioned  to  its  acloiov/ledged 
Vol.  I.— K 


146  DiSCOUUAGEiMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

iniportaiu'c.  You  will  not  be  silent  on  the  precepts,  from  an  :ipprc! ten- 
sion of  infringing  on  the  freedom  of  the  gospel,  nor  sink  the  charai'ter 
of  the  legislator  in  that  of  tiic  Saviour  of  the  eiuirch.  A  morality, 
more  elevated  and  pine  than  is  to  be  met  with  in  the  pages  of  Seneca 
or  Epietetus,  will  breathe  through  your  sermons,  founded  on  a  basis 
which  every  understanding  can  comprehend,  and  enforced  by  sanctions 
which  notmng  but  the  utmost  stupidity  can  despise  ;  a  morality  of 
wiiich  the  love  of  God  and  a  devoted  attachment  to  the  Redeemer  are 
the  plastic  soul,  which,  pervading  every  limb  and  expressing  itself  in 
every  lineament  of  the  new  creature,  gives  it  a  beauty  all  its  own. 
As  it  is  the  genuine  fruit  of  just  and  affecting  views  of  divine  truth, 
you  will  nevei  sever  it  from  its  parent  stock,  nor  indulge  the  fruitless 
hope  of  leadmg  men  to  holiness,  without  strongly  imbuing  them  with 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Truth  and  holiness  are  in  tlie  Christian 
system  so  intimatelv  allied,  that  the  warm  and  faithful  inculcation  of 
the  one  lays  the  only  foundation  for  the  other.  For  the  illustration 
of  particular  brandies  of  morals,  we  may  consult  pagan  writers  on 
ethics  with  advantage  ;  but  in  search  of  jmncijiles,  it  is  at  our  peril 
that  we  desert  the  school  of  Christ :  since  "  we  are  complete  in  Him," 
and  all  the  moral  excellence  to  which  we  can  aspire  is  but  Christianity 
imbodied ;  or,  if  we  may  be  allowed  to  change  the  figtire,  the  impress 
of  the  gospel  upon  the  heart.  The  perfection  of  the  Christian  system, 
considered  as  the  instrument  of  renovating  the  human  mind,  is  the 
second  consideration. 

3.  The  third  consideration  to  which  I  would  direct  your  attention 
is  that  of  its  being  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  To  this  the  apostle 
immediately  refers  in  the  context,  where  he  is  contrasting  the  Christian 
with  the  Jewish  institute.  Who  hath  also  made  us  able  ministers  of 
the  New  Testament,  not  of  the  letter,  hut  of  the  spirit;  for  the  letter 
killeth,  hut  the  spirit  giveth  life.  But  if  the  ministration  of  death 
written  and  engraven  in  stones  was  glorious,  how  shall  not  the  7ninistra- 
tion  of  the  spirit  he  more  glorious?  From  this  circumstance  he  infers 
the  superior  dignity  of  the  Christian  ministry.  The  miraculous  gifts 
intended  for  a  sign  to  unbelievers,  and  to  aid  the  gospel  during  its  first 
struggle  with  the  powers  of  pagan  darkness,  have  long  suice  ceased 
with  the  exigency  that  called  them  forth ;  but  the  renewing  and 
sanctifying  agency  of  the  spirit  remains,  and  will  continue  to  the  end 
of  time ;  the  express  declaration  of  our  Saviour  not  admitting  a  doubt 
of  its  perpe'uitv.  /  loill  pray  the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another 
comforter,  that  he  may  abide  with  you  for  ever,  the  spirit  of  t  nth,  whom 
the  world  cannot  receive  because  it  sceth  hi7n  not,  neither  knoweth  him, 
hut  yc  know  him,  for  he  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.  To  the 
world,  who,  in  their  unrenewed  state,  are  unsusceptible  of  his  sanctify- 
mg  impress,  he  is  promised  in  the  preparatory  form  of  a  spirit  of  con- 
viction;  to  believers,  he  is  promised  as  an  indwelling  principle,  an 
ever-present  Deity,  who  consecrates  the  hearts  of  the  faithfid  to  be  his 
perpetual  abode.  Hence  the  ministers  of  Christ  are  not  dependent  foi 
success  on  the  force  of  moral  suasion ;  not  merely  the  teachers  of 
an  external  religion,  includiup-  truth?  the  most  momentous,  and  duties 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  I47 

of  the  highest  obligation ;  they  are  also  the  instruments  through  wliom 
a  supernatural  agency  is  exerted.  And  hence,  in  the  conversion  of 
souls,  we  are  not  to  compare  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted  with  the 
feeble  resources  of  human  power,  but  with  His  with  whom  nothing  is 
impossible.  To  this  the  inspired  historian  every  where  directs  our 
attention  as  alone  sufficient  to  account  foi  the  signal  success  which 
crowned  the  labours  of  the  first  preachers.  If  a  great  multitude  at 
Antioch  turned  to  the  Lord,  it  was  because  t'fie  hand  of  the  Lord  tvas 
with  them;  if  Lydia  believed,  in  consequence  of  giving  attention  to  the 
things  that  were  spoken,  it  was  because  the  Lord  opened  her  heart; 
if  Paul  planted  and  Apollos  watered  with  success,  it  was  the  Lord  who 
gave  the  increase;  and  highly  as  they  were  endowed,  and  though 
invested  with  such  extensive  authority,  they  did  not  presume  to  count 
upon  any  thing  from  themselves ;  their  sufficiency  was  of  God.  As 
the  possibility  of  such  an  influence  can  be  doubted  by  none  who  believe 
in  a  Deity,  so  the  peculiar  consolation  derived  from  the  doctrine  that 
asserts  it  seems  to  be  this,  that  it  renders  what  was  merely  possible 
certain,  what  was  before  vague  and  undetermined,  fixed,  by  reducing 
the  interposition  of  the  Almighty,  in  the  concerns  of  salvation,  to  a 
stated  method  and  a  settled  law.  The  communication  of  the  spirit, 
to  render  the  gospel  efficacious,  becomes  a  standing  ordinance  of 
Heaven,  and  a  full  security  for  its  final  triumph  over  every  opposing 
force.  iHy  word,  said  the  Lord  by  the  prophet,  shall  7iot  return  unto 
me  void,  but  shall  accomplish  the  thing  whereunto  I  sent  it.  At  the 
same  time,  connected  as  it  is  by  the  very  tenor  of  the  promise  with 
the  publication  of  an  external  revelation,  and  professing  to  set  its  seal 
only  to  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  it  precludes,  as  far  as  possible,  every 
enthusiastic  pretension,  by  leaving  the  appeal  to  Scripture  as  full  and 
uncontrolled  as  if  no  such  agency  were  supposed.  It  is  strange  that 
any  should  be  found  to  deny  a  doctrine  so  consolatory  under  the  pre- 
tence .of  its  derogating  from  the  sufficiency  of  revelation,  when  it  not 
only  ascribes  to  it  all  the  efficacy  that  can  belong  to  an  instrument  or 
external  means,  but  confers  the  highest  honour  upon  it,  by  marking  it 
out  as  the  only  fountain  of  instruction  to  which  the  agency  of  the 
Deity  is  inseparably  attached.  The  idea  of  his  immediate  interposition 
must  necessarily  increase  our  veneration  lor  whatever  is  connected 
with  it ;  and  let  it  ever  be  remembered,  that  the  internal  illumination 
of  the  spirit  is  merely  intended  to  qualify  the  mind  for  distinctly  per- 
ceiving and  cordially  embracing  those  objects  and  no  other,  which  are 
exhibited  in  the  written  word.  To  dispel  prejudice,  to  excite  a  dis 
position  for  inquiry,  and  to  infuse  that  love  of  the  truth  without  which 
we  can  neither  be  transformed  by  its  power  nor  bow  to  its  dictates,  is 
the  grand  scope  of  spiritual  agency ;  and  how  this  should  derogate 
from  the  dignity  of  the  truth  itself,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive.  The 
inseparable  alliance  between  the  spirit  and  the  word  secures  the 
harmony  of  the  Divine  dispensations  ;  and  since  that  spirit  of  truth 
can  never  contradict  himself,  whatever  impulse  he  may  give,  whatever 
disposition  he  may  communicate,  it  involves  no  irreverence  towards 
that  divine  agent  to  compare  his  operations  with  that  standing  revela 

K2 


148        DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

tion  which,  eqiiallv  claiming  him  for  its  iiithor,  he  has  expressly 
appointed  for  tlie  trial  of  the  spirits. 

Let  me  earnestly  entreat  yon,  by  keeping  close  to  the  fountain  of 
grace,  to  secure  a  large  measure  of  its  influence.  In  your  private 
studies  aiid  in  your  public  performances,  remember  your  absolute 
dependence  on  superior  aid  ;  let  your  conviction  of  this  dependence 
become  so  deep  and  practical  as  to  prevent  your  attempting  any  thing 
in  vour  own  strength,  after  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  who,  when  he  had 
occasion  to  advert  to  his  labours  in  the  gospel,  checks  himself  by 
adding,  with  ineffable  modesty,  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  that  was 
u-ith  me.  From  that  vivid  perception  of  truth,  tliat  full  assurance  of 
faith  which  is  its  inseparable  attendant,  you  will  derive  unspeakabH 
advantage  in  addressing  your  hearers  ;  a  seriousness,  tenderness,  and 
majesty  will  pervade  your  discourses,  beyond  what  the  greatest  unas- 
sisted talent  can  command.  In  the  choice  of  your  subjects  it  w^ill  lead 
you  to  what  is  most  solid  and  useful,  while  it  enables  you  to  handle 
them  in  a  manner  the  most  efficacious  and  impressive.  Possessed  of 
this  celestial  unction,  you  will  not  be  under  the  temptation  of  neglect- 
ing a  plain  gospel  in  quest  of  amusing  speculations  or  unprofitable 
novelties  ;  the  most  ordinary  topics  will  open  themselves  with  a  fresh- 
ness and  interest,  as  though  you  had  never  considered  them  before  • 
and  the  things  of  the  Spirit  will  display  their  inexhaustible  variety  and 
depth.  You  will  pierce  the  invisible  w^orld  ;  you  will  look,  so  to 
speak,  into  eternit)*,  and  present  the  essence  and  core  of  religiony 
while  too  many  preachers,  for  want  of  spiritual  discernment,  rest  satis- 
fied with  the  surface  and  the  shell.  It  will  not  allow  us  to  throw  one 
grain  of  incense  on  the  altar  of  vanity  ;  it  will  make  us  forget  ourselves 
so  completely  as  to  convince  our  hearers  we  do  so ;  and,  displacing 
every  thing  else  from  the  attention,  leave  nothing  to  be  felt  or  thought 
of  but  the  majesty  of  truth  and  the  realities  of  eternity. 

In  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  you  possess  this  sacred  influence 
will  be  the  earnestness  with  which  you  implore  it  in  behalf  of  your 
hearers.  Often  will  you  bow  the  knee  to  the  God  and  Father  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  will  grant  unto  them  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  him ;  the  eyes  of  their  understanduig  being 
enlightened,  that  they  mny  knovi  what  is  the  hope  of  their  calling,  a7id 
what  are  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance  among  them  that 
believe. 

On  the  one  hand  it  deserves  attention,  that  the  most  eminent  and 
successful  preachers  of  the  gospel  in  different  communities,  a  Brainerd, 
a  Baxter,  and  a  Schwartz,  have  been  the  most  conspicuous  for  a  sim- 
ple dependence  upon  spiritual  aid ;  and  on  the  other,  that  no  success 
whatever  has  attended  the  ministrations  of  those  by  whom  this  doctrine 
has  been  either  neglected  or  denied.  They  have  met  with  such  a 
rebuke  of  their  presumption,  in  the  total  failure  of  their  efforts,  that 
none  will  contend  for  the  reality  of  divine  interposition  as  far  as  they 
are  concerned ;  for  when  has  "the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed"  to 
those  pretended  teachers  of  Christianity  who  believe  there  is  no  such 
arm?     We  must  leave  them  to  labour  in  a  field  respecting  which  God 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  ^        I49 

Has  commanded  the  clouds  not  to  rain  upon  it.  As  if  conscious  of  this, 
of  late  they  have  turned  their  efforts  into  a  new  channel,  and,  despair- 
ing of  the  conversion  of  sinners,  have  confined  themselves  to  the 
seduction  of  the  faithful ;  in  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  they  have 
acted  in  a  manner  perfectly  consistent  with  their  principles  ;  the  pro- 
pagation of  heresy  requiring,  at  least,  no  divine  assistance. 

4.  Let  me  request  you  to  consider  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the 
profession  which  you  leave  assumed.  I  am  aware  that  the  bare  men 
tion  of  these,  as  attributes  of  the  Christian  ministry  (especially  when 
exercised  among  Protestant  dissenters),  may  provoke  a  smile :  wc 
contend,  however,  that  if  the  dignity  of  an  employment  is  to  be 
estimated,  not  by  the  glitter  of  external  appearances,  but  by  the  magni- 
tude and  duration  of  the  consequences  involved  in  its  success,  th<' 
ministerial  function  is  an  high  and  honourable  one.  Though  it  is  noi 
permitted  us  to  magnify  ourselves,  we  may  be  allowed  to  magnify  our 
office  ;  and,  indeed,  the  juster  the  apprehensions  we  entertain  of  what 
belongs  to  it,  the  deeper  the  conviction  we  shall  feel  of  our  defects. 
Independently  of  every  other  consideration,  that  office  cannot  be  mean 
which  the  Son  of  God  condescended  to  sustain :  for  the  word  whici*  toe 
preach  first  began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord ;  and,  while  he  sojourned 
upon  earth,  that  Prince  of  life  was  chiefly  employed  in  publishing  his 
own  religion.  That  office  cannot  be  mean  whose  end  is  the  recovery 
of  man  to  his  original  purity  and  happiness — the  illumination  of  the 
understanding — the  communication  of  truth — and  the  production  of 
principles  which  will  bring  forth  fruit  unto  everlasting  life.  As  the 
material  part  of  the  creation  was  formed  for  the  sake  of  the  immaterial ; 
am!  of  the  latter  the  most  momentous  characteristic  is  its  moral  and 
accountable  nature,  or,  in  other  wordv,  its  capacity  of  virtue  and  vice  ; 
that  labour  cannot  want  dignity  which  is  exerted  in  improving  man  in  his 
highest  character,  and  fitting  him  for  his  eternal  destination.  Here 
alone  is  certainty  and  durability  ;  for,  however  highly  we  may  esteem 
ihe  arts  and  sciences  which  polish  our  'Species  and  promote  the  welfare 
of  society ;  whatever  reverence  we  may  feel,  and  ought  to  feel,  for 
those  laws  and  institutions  whence  it  derives  the  security  necessary 
for  enabling  it  to  enlarge  its  resources  and  develop  its  energies,  we 
cannot  forget  that  these  are  but  the  embellishments  of  a  scene  we  must 
shortly  quit — the  decorations  of  a  theatre,  from  which  the  eager  spec- 
tators and  applauded  actors  must  soon  retire.  The  end  of  all  things 
is  at  hand.  Vanity  is  inscribed  on  every  earthly  pursuit,  on  all  sub- 
lunary labour;  its  materials,  its  instruments,  and  its  objects  will  alike 
perish.  An  incurable  taint  of  mortality  has  seized  upon,  and  will  con- 
sume them  ere  long.  The  acquisitions  derived  from  religion,  the 
graces  of  a  renovated  mind,  are  alone  permanent.  This  is  the  mystic 
enclosure,  rescued  from  the  empire  of  change  and  death  ;  tliis  is  the 
field  which  the  Lord  has  blessed  :  and  tliis  word  of  the  kingdom,  the 
seed  which  alone  produces  immortal  fruit,  the  very  bread  of  life,  with 
which,  under  a  higher  economy,  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
■wdl  feed  his  flock  and  replenish  his  elect  through  et'^rnal  ages.  How 
high  and  awful  a  function  is  that  which  proposes  to  establish  in  the 


150  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

soul  ;iu  iiitoriov  ilomiiiion — to  illuiiiiiiate  its  powers  by  a  celestial  liglil 
— and  iiitrotluee  it  to  an  intimate,  inellablo,  and  umhansiing  alliance 
witli  the  Father  of  Spirits  !  What  an  honour  to  be  employed  as  the 
instrument  of  conducting  that  mysterious  process  by  which  men  are 
born  of  God ;  to  exj)el  from  the  heart  the  venom  of  the  old  serpent , 
to  purye  the  conscience  from  invisible  stains  of  guilt ;  to  release  the 
passions  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  and  invite  them  to  soar  aloft 
hito  the  regions  of  imcreated  light  and  beauty  ;  to  say  to  the  prisoners^ 
Go  forth ;  to  them  that  are  in  darkness,  Show  yourselves  !  These  are 
the  fruits  which  arise  from  the  successful  discharge  of  the  Christian 
ministry ;  these  the  efTects  of  the  gospel  wherever  it  becomes  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  :  and  the  interests  which  they  create,  the 
joy  which  they  diffuse,  are  felt  in  other  worlds. 

In  insisting  on  the  dignity  attached  to  the  ministerial  office,  it  is  far 
from  my  intention  to  supply  fuel  to  vanity,  or  suggest  such  ideas  of 
yourself  as  shall  tempt  you  to  "  lord  it  over  God's  heritage."  Let  the 
importance  of  your  station  be  rather  felt  and  acknowledged  in  its  bene- 
ficial results  than  ostentatiously  displayed ;  and  the  consciousness  of 
it,  instead  of  being  suffered  to  evaporate  in  authoritative  airs  and 
pompous  pretensions,  produce  a  concentration  of  your  powers.  If  the 
great  apostle  was  content  to  be  a  helper  of  the  joy  without  claiming 
dominion  over  the  faith  of  his  converts,  how  far  should  we  be  from 
advancing  such  a  claim  !  If  he  served  the  Lord  with  humility  and 
many  tears ;  if  he  appeared  among  the  churches  which  he  planted, 
"in  fear  and  in  weakness,  and  with  much  trembling,"  we  may  learn 
how  possible  it  is  to  combine  with  true  dignity  the  most  unassuming 
deportment  and  the  deepest  conviction  of  our  weakness  and  unworthi- 
ness  with  a  vigorous  discharge  of  whatever  belongs  to  the  apostolic, 
much  more  to  the  pastoral  office.  The  proper  use  to  be  made  of  such 
considerations  as  have  now  been  suggested  is,  to  stir  up  the  gift  which 
is  in  us,  to  apply  ourselves  to  our  work  with  becoming  resolution,  and 
anticipate,  in  dependence  on  the  divine  blessing,  important  effects. 
The  moment  we  permit  ourselves  to  think  lightly  of  the.  Christian 
ministry,  our  right  arm  is  withered  ;  nothing  but  imbecility  and  relaxa- 
tion remains.  For  no  man  ever  excelled  in  a  profession  to  which  he 
did  not  feel  an  attachment  bordering  on  enthusiasm  ;  though  what  in 
other  professions  is  enthusiasm,  is  in  ours  the  dictate  of  sobriety 
and  truth. 

5.  Recollect,  for  your  encouragement,  the  reward  that  awaits  the 
faithful  minister.  Such  is  the  mysterious  condescension  of  divine 
grace,  that  although  it  reserves  to  itself  the  exclusive  honour  of  being 
the  fountain  of  all,  yet,  by  the  employment  of  human  agency  in  the 
completion  of  its  designs,  it  contrives  to  multiply  its  gifts,  and  to  lay  a 
foundation  for  eternal  rewards.  When  the  church,  in  the  perfection 
of  beauty,  shall  be  presented  to  Christ  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  hus- 
band, the  faithful  pastor  will  appear  as  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom, 
who  greatly  rejoices  because  of  the  bridegroom'' s  voice.  His  joy  will 
be  the  joy  of  his  Lord,  inferior  in  degree,  but  of  the  same  nature,  and 
aiising  from  the  same  sotirces  :  while  he  w\ll  have  the  peculiar  hap- 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  151 

piness  ol  reflecting  that  he  has  contributed  to  it ;  contributed,  as  an 
humble  instrument,  to  that  glory  and  felicity  of  which  he  will  be  con- 
scious he  is  utterly  unworthy  to  partake.  To  have  been  himself  the 
object  of  mercy,  to  have  been  the  means  of  imparting  it  to  others,  and 
of  dispensing  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  will  produce  a  pleasure 
which  can  never  be  adequately  felt  or  understood  until  we  see  him  as 
he  is.  From  that  oneness  of  spirit,  from  that  inseparable  conjunction 
of  interest,  which  will  then  be  experienced  in  its  utmost  extent,  will 
arise  a  capacity  of  sharing  the  triumph  of  the  Redeemer  and  of  par- 
ticipating in  the  delight  with  which  he  will  survey  his  finished  work, 
when  a  new  and  fairer  creation  shall  arise  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  first. 
And  is  this  the  end,  he  will  exclaim,  of  all  my  labours,  my  toils,  and 
watcbings,  my  expostulation  with  sinners,  and  my  efforts  to  console 
the  faithful !  and  is  this  the  issue  of  that  ministry  under  which  I  was 
often  ready  to  sink !  and  this  the  glory  of  which  I  heard  so  much,  un- 
derstood so  little,  and  announced  to  my  hearers  with  lisping  accents 
and  a  stammering  tongue  !  well  might  it  be  styled  the  glory  to  he 
revealed.  Auspicious  day  !  on  which  I  embarked  in  this  undertaking, 
on  which  the  love  of  Christ,  with  a  SAveet  and  sacred  violence,  impelled 
me  to  feed  his  sheep  and  to  feed  his  lambs.  With  what  emotion  shall 
we,  who,  being  intrusted  with  so  holy  a  ministry,  shall  find  mercy  to 
be  faithful,  hear  that  voice  from  heaven.  Rejoice  and  be  glad,  and  give 
honour  to  him  ;  for  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come,  and  his  wife  hath 
made  herself  ready !  With  what  rapture  shall  we  recognise,  amid  an 
innumerable  multitude,  the  seals  of  our  ministry,  the  persons  whom 
we  have  been  the  means  of  conducting  to  that  glory  ! 

Hence  we  discern  the  futility  of  the  objection  against  the  doctrine 
of  future  rewards,  drawn  from  an  apprehension  that  to  be  actuated  by 
such  a  motive  argues  a  mean  and  mercenary  disposition  ;  since  the 
reward  to  which  we  aspire,  in  this  instance  at  least,  grows  out  of  the 
employment  in  which  we  are  engaged,  and  will  consist  in  enjoyments 
which  can  only  be  felt  and  perceived  by  a  refined  and  elevated  spirit. 
The  success  of  our  undertaking  will,  m  reality,  reward  itself,  by  the 
complete  gratification  it  will  aflbrd  to  the  sentiments  of  devotion  and 
benevolence  which,  in  their  highest  perfection,  form  the  principal 
ingredient  in  future  felicity.  To  have  co-operated  in  any  degree  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  that  purpose  of  the  Deity  to  reconcile  all  things 
to  himself  by  reducing  them  to  the  obedience  of  his  Son,  which  is 
the  ultimate  end  of  all  his  works, — to  be  the  means  of  recovering, 
though  it  were  but  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  a  lapsed  and  degenerate 
race,  to  eternal  happiness,  will  yield  a  satisfaction  exactly  commensu- 
rate to  the  force  of  our  benevolent  sentiments,  and  the  degree  of  our 
loyal  attachment  to  the  supreme  Potentate.  The  consequences  in- 
volved in  saving  a  soul  from  death,  and  hiding  a  multitude  of  sins,  will 
be  duly  appreciated  in  that  world  where  the  worth  of  souls  and  the 
malignity  of  sin  are  fully  understood  ;  while,  to  extend  the  triumphs 
of  the  Redeemer,  by  forming  him  in  the  hearts  of  men,  will  produce 
a  transport  which  can  only  be  equalled  by  the  gratitude  and  love  wp 
shall  feel  towards  the  Source  of  all  our  "ood. 


152  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

Before  I  close  this  discourse,  which  has,  perhaps,  already  detained 
you  too  lonf>,  let  ine  suggest  one  rellcction  which  so  naturally  arises 
from  the  view  we  have  taken  of  the  ministerial  ofhce  that  I  cannot 
think  it  riijht  to  pass  it  over  in  silence.  The  consideration  to  which 
we  allude  respects  the  advantages  possessed  hy  the  Christian  minister 
for  tiie  cultivation  of  personal  piety.  Blessed  is  the  man,  said  the  royal 
Psalmist,  whom  thou  chooscst,  and  caiisest  to  approach  unto  thee  ;  blessed 
arc  they  who  dwell  in  thy  house,  they  tvill  be  still  praising  thee.  If 
he  was  so  strongly  impressed  with  a  conviction  of  the  high  privilege 
annexed  to  the  priesthood,  by  virtue  of  its  being  allowed  a  nearer 
approach  to  God  in  the  services  of  the  sanctuary,  the  situation  of  a 
Christian  minister  is  not  less  distinguished,  nor  less  desirable.  It  is 
the  only  one  in  which  our  general  calling  as  Christians,  and  our  par- 
ticular calling  as  men,  perfectly  coincide.  In  a  life  occupied  in  actions 
that  terminate  in  the  present  moment,  and  in  cares  and  pursuits  ex- 
tremely disproportionate  to  the  dignity  of  our  nature,  but  rendered 
necessary  by  the  imperfection  of  our  state ;  it  is  but  little  of  their 
time  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  can  devote  to  the  direct  and 
immediate  pursuit  of  their  eternal  interests.  A  few  remnants,  snatched 
from  the  business  of  life,  are  all  that  most  can  bestow.  In  our  profes- 
sion, the  full  force  and  vigour  of  the  mind  may  be  exerted  on  that 
which  will  employ  it  for  ever, — on  religion,  the  final  centre  of  repose ; 
the  goal  to  which  all  things  tend,  which  gives  to  time  all  its  importance, 
to  eternity  all  its  glory ;  apart  from  which  man  is  a  shadow,  his  very 
existence  a  riddle,  and  the  stupendous  scenes  which  surround  him  as 
mcoherent  and  unmeaning  as  the  leaves  which  the  sybil  scattered  in 
the  wind.  Our  inaptitude  to  be  affected  in  any  measure  proportioned 
to  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  interest  in  which  we  are  concerned,  and 
the  objects  with  which  we  are  conversant,  is  partly  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  corruption  of  nature,  partly  to  the  limitation  of  our  faculties.  As 
far  as  this  disproportion  is  capable  of  being  corrected,  the  pursuits 
connected  with  our  office  are  unquestionably  best  adapted  to  that  pur- 
pose, by  closely  fixing  the  attention  on  objects  which  can  never  be 
contemned  but  in  consequence  of  being  forgotten,  nor  ever  surveyed 
with  attention  without  filling  the  whole  sphere  of  vision.  Though 
the  scene  of  our  labour  is  on  earth,  the  things  to  which  it  relates 
subsist  in  eternity.  We  can  give  no  account  of  our  office,  much  less 
discharge  any  branch  of  it  with  propriety  and  effect,  without  adverting 
to  a  future  state  of  being ;  while  in  a  happy  exemption  from  the 
tumultuous  cares  of  life,  our  only  concern  with  mankind,  as  far  as  it 
respects  our  official  character,  is  to  promote  their  everlasting  welfare ; 
our  only  business  on  earth,  the  very  same  that  employs  those  exalted 
spirits  who  are  sent  forth  on  embassies  of  mercy,  to  minister  to 
them  who  shall  be  the  heirs  of  salvation.  Our  duties  and  pursuits 
are  distingrdshed  from  all  others  by  their  immediate  relation  to  the 
ultimate  end  of  human  existence ;  so  that,  while  secular  employments 
can  be  rendered  innocent  only  by  an  extreme  care  to  avoid  the  pollu- 
tions which  they  are  so  liable  to  contract,  the  ministerial  functions 
bear  an  indelible  impress  of  sanctity.     The  purposes  accomplished 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  -    153 

by  the  ministiy  of  the  gospel,  in  the  restoration  of  a  fallen  creature 
to  the  image  of  his  Maker,  are  not  among  the  things  which  were  made 
for  man  :  they  are  the  things  for  which  man  was  made ;  since,  without 
regard  to  time  or  place,  they  are  essential  to  his  perfection  and  hap- 
piness. How  much  of  heaven  is  naturally  connected  with  an  office 
whose  sole  purpose  is  to  conduct  man  thither !  and  what  a  superiority 
to  the  love  of  the  world  may  be  expected  from  men  who  are  appointed 
to  publish  that  dispensation  which  reveals  its  danger,  detects  its  vanity, 
rebukes  its  disorders,  and  foretels  its  destruction  ! 

He  must  know  little  of  the  world,  and  still  less  of  his  own  heart, 
who  is  not  aware  how  difficult  it  is,  amid  the  corrupting  examples  with 
which  it  abounds,  to  maintain  the  spirit  of  devotion  unimpaired,  or  to 
preserve,  in  their  due  force  and  delicacy,  those  vivid  moral  impressions, 
that  quick  perception  of  good,  and  instinctive  abhorrence  of  evd,  which 
form  the  chief  characteristic  of  a  pure  and  elevated  mind.  These, 
like  the  morning  dew,  are  easily  brushed  off  in  the  collisions  of 
worldly  interest,  or  exhaled  by  the  meridian  sun.  Hence  the  necessity 
of  frequent  intervals  of  retirement,  when  the  mind  may  recover  its 
scattered  powers,  and  renew  its  strength  by  a  devout  application  to 
the  Fountain  of  all  grace. 

To  the  ordinary  occupations  of  life  we  are  rather  indebted  for  the 
trial  of  our  virtue  than  for  the  matter,  or  the  motive ;  and,  however 
criminal  it  would  be  to  neglect  them,  in  our  present  state,  they  can 
only  be  reduced  under  the  dominion  of  religion  by  a  general  intention 
of  pleasing  God.  But  in  carrying  into  effect  the  designs  of  the  gospel, 
we  are  communicating  that  pure  element  of  good  which,  like  the  solar 
light,  pervades  every  part  of  the  universe,  and  forms,  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe,  the  most  essential  ingredient  in  the  felicity  of  all 
created  beings.  * 

If,  in  the  actual  commerce  of  the  world,  the  noblest  principles  are 
often  sacrificed  to  mean  expedients,  and  the  rules  of  moral  rectitude 
made  to  bend  to  the  indulgence  of  vaiii  and  criminal  passions,  how 
happy  for  us  that  we  are  under  the  necessity  of  contemplating  them 
in  their  abstract  grandeur,  of  viewing  them  as  an  emanation  of  the 
divine  beauty ;  as  the  immutable  law  of  the  creation,  imbodied  in  the 
character  of  the  Saviour,  and  illustrated  in  the  elevated  sentiments,  the 
holy  lives,  and  triumphant  deaths  of  prophets,  saints,  and  martyrs  ! 
We  are  called,  every  moment,  to  ascend  to  first  principles,  to  stand  in 
the  council  of  God,  and  to  imbibe  the  dictates  of  celestial  wisdom  in 
their  first  communication,  before  they  become  debased  and  contami- 
nated by  a  mixture  with  grosser  elements. 

The  bane  of  human  happiness  is  ordinarily  not  so  much  an  absolute 
ignorance  of  what  is  best,  as  an  inattention  to  it,  accompanied  with  a 
habit  of  not  adverting  to  prospects  the  most  certain,  and  the  most 
awful.  But  how  can  we  be  supposed  to  contract  this  inadvertence, 
who  are  incessantly  engaged  in  placing  truth  in  every  possible  light, 
tracing  it  in  its  utmost  extent,  and  exhibiting  it  in  all  its  evidence  ! 
Can  we  be  supposed  to  forget  that  day  and  that  hour,  of  which  no  man 
knoweth,  who  are  stationed  as  watchmen  to  give  the  alarm,  to  announce 


164  DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  SUPPORTS 

the  first  symptoms  of  danger,  and  to  cry  in  tlie  ears  of  a  sleeping 
world.  Behold,  the  bridegroom  cometh:  or,  however  inattentive  others 
may  he  to  tlie  approach  of  our  Lord,  can  it  ever  vanish  from  our  minds, 
wlio  are  detained  by  liim  in  his  sanctuary  on  jnirpose  to  preserve  it 
pure,  to  trim  the  gohlen  lamps,  and  maintain  the  hallowed  fire,  that  he 
may  Ihul  nothing  neglected,  or  in  disorder,  when  he  shall  suddenly  come 
to  his  temple,  even  the  7nesscnger  of  the  covenctnt  ivhom  rvc  delight  in? 

Men  are  ruined  in  their  eternal  interests  by  failing  to  look  within ; 
by  being  so  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  earthly  good  as  to  neglect  the 
state  of  their  hearts.  But  can  this  be  supposed  to  be  the  case  with 
us,  who  must  never  hope  to  discharge  our  ofiice  with  eflect  without  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  inward  man — without  tracing  the  secret 
operations  of  nature  and  of  grace — without  closely  inspecting  the 
causes  of  revival,  and  of  decay,  in  the  spiritual  life,  and  detecting  the 
most  secret  springs  and  plausible  artifices  of  temptation ;  in  all  which 
we  shall  be  successful  just  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  devout 
attention  we  bestow  on  the  movements  of  our  own  minds. 

Men  are  ruined  in  their  eternal  interests  by  living  as  though  they 
were  their  own,  and  neglecting  to  realize  the  certainty  of  a  future  ac 
count.  But  it  must  surely  require  no  small  efl^ort  to  divert  our  attention 
from  this  truth,  who  have  not  only  the  same  interest  in  it  with  others, 
but,  in  consequence  of  the  care  of  souls,  possess  a  responsibility  of  a 
distinct  and  awful  character ;  since  not  one  of  those  to  whom  that 
care  extends  can  fall  short  of  salvation  through  our  neglect  or  default, 
but  his  blood  will  be  required  at  our  hands.  Where,  in  short,  can  we 
turn  our  eyes  without  meeting  with  incentives  to  piety.  '  What  part 
of  the  sacred  function  can  we  touch  Avhich  will  not  remind  us  of  the 
beauty  of  holiness,  the  evil  of  sin,  and  the  emptiness  of  all  sublunary 
good ;  or,  where  shall  we  not  find  ourselves  in  a  temple  resounding 
with  awful  voices,  and  filled  with  holy  inspirations  ? 

I  feel  a  pleasing  conviction,  that,  in  consequence  of  deriving  from 
your  ministry  that  spiritual  aid  it  is  so  adapted  to  impart,  both  your 
piety  and  usefulness  will  continue  to  increase,  and  by  being  intimately 
incorporated,  aid  and  strengthen  each  other ;  so  that  your  profiting 
shall  appear  unto  all  men,  and  while  you  are  watering  others,  you 
yourself  shall  be  abundantly  w-atered  of  God.  Thus  will  you  be 
enabled  to  adopt  the  language  of  the  beloved  apostle.  That  which  v:e 
have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  rchich  we  have  looked 
upon,  and  our  hands  have  handled  of  the  word  of  life,  declare  we  unto 
you.  Thus  will  you  possess  that  unction  from  which  your  hearers 
cannot  fail,  under  the  divine  blessing,  to  reap  the  highest  benefit ;  for 
while  we  are  exploring  the  mines  of  revelation  for  the  purpose  of 
exhibiting  to  mankind  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  we  are  not 
in  the  situation  of  those  unhappy  men  who  merely  toil  for  the  advan- 
tage of  others,  and  dare  not  appropriate  to  themselves  an  atom  of  that 
precious  ore  on  which  their  labour  is  employed  :  we  are  permitted 
and  invited  first  to  enrich  ourselves,  and  the  more  we  appropriate  the 
more  shall  we  impart.  It  is  my  earnest  prayer,  my  dear  brother, 
that  you  may  feed  the  Church  of  the  Lord  which  he  has  purchased  with 


OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTER.  I55 

his  own  blood ;  that  you  may  make  fall  proof  of  your  ministry ;  be 
instant  in  season  and  out  of  season ;  teach,  exhort,  and  rebuke,  with  all 
long-suffering  and  authority.  Then,  should  you  be  spared  to  your 
flock,  you  will  witness  the  fruit  of  your  labours  in  a  spiritual  plantation, 
growing  under  your  hand,  adorned  with  trees  of  righteousness,  the 
■planting  of  the  Lord,  that  he  may  be  glorified ;  and  while,  neglecting 
worldly  considerations,  you  are  intent  on  the  high  ends  of  your  calling, 
inferior  satisfactions  will  not  be  wanting,  but  you  will  meet  among  the 
seals  of  your  ministry  with  fathers  and  mothers,  sisters  and  brothers. 
Or  should  your  career  be  prematurely  cut  short,  you  will  have  lived 
long  enough  to  answer  the  purposes  of  your  being,  and  to  leave  a 
record  in  the  consciences  of  your  hearers,  which  will  not  suffer  you 
soon  to  be  forgotten.  Though  dead,  you  will  still  speak ;  you  will 
speak  from  the  tomb ;  it  may  be,  in  accents  more  powerful  and  per 
suasive  than  your  living  voice  could  command. 


AN    ADDRESS 


TO 

THE   REV.   EUSTACE    CAREY, 

January  19,  1814, 
»n  his  designation  as  a  christian  missionary  to  indu. 


\ 


AN    ADDRESS 


As  it  has  been  usual  in  the  designation  of  a  missionary,  aftet 
solemnly  commending  him  to  God  by  prayer,  to  deliver  a  short  ad- 
dress ;  in  compliance  with  a  custom  not  perhaps  improper  or  illaudable, 
I  shall  request  your  attention  to  a  few  hints  of  advice,  without  attempt- 
ing a  regular  charge,  which  I  neither  judge  myself  equal  to  nor  deem 
necessary,  since  on  your  arrival  in  India  you  will  receive  from  your 
venerable  relative  Dr.  Carey  instruction  more  ample  and  appropriate 
than  it  is  in  my  power  to  communicate. 

When  the  first  missionaries  who  visited  these  western  parts  were 
sent  out,  their  designation  was  accompanied  with  prayer  and  fasting ; 
whence  we  may  infer  that  fervent  supplication  ought  to  form  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  in  the  exercises  appropriated  to  these  occasions. 

An  effusion  of  the  spirit  of  prayer  on  the  church  of  Christ  is  a  surer 
pledge  of  success  in  the  establishment  of  missions  than  the  most  splen- 
did exhibitions  of  talent.  As  there  is  no  engagemt^nt  more  entirely 
spiritual  in  its  nature,  nor  whose  success  is  more  immediately  de- 
pendent on  God,  than  that  on  which  you  are  entering ;  to  none  is  that 
spiritual  aid  more  indispensably  necessary  which  is  chiefly  awarded 
to  the  prayers  of  the  faithful. 

Separate  to  me,  said  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  disciples  assembled  at 
Antioch,  separate  to  me  Barnabas  and  Saul,  to  the  tvork  whereunto  1 
have  called  them.  When  the  omniscient  Searcher  of  hearts  separates 
a  Christian  minister  from  his  brethren  and  assigns  him  a  distinct  work, 
it  implies  the  previous  perception  of  certain  qualifications  for  its  suc- 
cessful discharge  not  generally  possessed  ;  for  though  none  can  give 
the  increase  but  God,  much  of  his  wisdom  is  to  be  traced  in  the  selec- 
tion of  instruments  fitted  to  his  purpose.  The  first  and  most  essential 
qualification  for  a  missionary  is  a  decided  predilection  for  the  office ; 
not  the  eflect  of  sudden  impulse,  but  of  serious,  deep  consideration  ;  a 
predilection  strengthened  and  matured  by  deliberately  counting  the 
cost.  Every  man  has  his  proper  calling ;  and  while  the  greater  part 
of  Christian  teachers  are  perfectly  satisfied  with  attempting  to  do  all 
the  good  in  their  power  in  their  native  land,  there  are  others  of  a  more 
enterprising  character,  inflamed  with  the  holy  ambition  of  carrying  the 
glad  tidings  beyond  the  bounds  of  Christendom  ;  like  the  great  apostle 
of  the  gentiles,  who  was  determined  not  to  build  on  another  man's 
foundation,  but  if  possible  to  preach  Christ  in  regions  where  his  name 
was  not  known.     Tlie  circumstances  which  contribute  to  such  a  reso 


160  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

Iiition  are  various,  often  too  subtle  and  complicated  to  admit  of  a  dis* 
tinct  analysis :  a  constitutional  ardour  of  mind,  a  natural  neglect  of 
difficulties  and  dangers,  an  impatience  of  being  confined  within  the 
trammels  of  ordinary  duties,  together  with  many  accidental  associa- 
tions and  impressions,  may  combine  to  form  a  missionary  spirit ;  noi 
is  it  so  necessary  minutely  to  investigate  the  causes  which  have  led 
to  a  given  determination,  as  the  legitimacy  of  the  object  and  the  purity 
of  the  motive. 

We  adore  the  prolific  Source  of  all  good,  in  the  variety  and  dis- 
crimination of  his  gifts,  by  which  he  imparts  a  separate  character  and 
allots  a  distinct  sphere  of  operation  to  the  general  and  essential  prin- 
ciples which  form  the  Christian  and  the  minister.  He  gave  so?7ie  apos- 
tles and  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers,  for  the  per- 
fecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  oj 
the  body  of  Christ. 

The  sacred  impulse  to  which  we  have  adverted  I  am  certain  you 
have  felt  in  no  common  degree,  and  that  it  has  been  your  ardent  wish 
to  be  employed  as  a  messenger  to  the  heathen  from  the  time  you 
devoted  yourself  to  the  ministry.  Of  your  possessing  this  most  essen- 
tial prerequisite  for  the  oftice  you  have  undertaken  it  is  impossible 
for  those  who  know  you  to  entertain  a  doubt. 

The  next  qualification  of  whose  necessity  I  must  be  allowed  to 
remind  you  is  singular  self-devotement,  without  a  degree  of  which  it 
is  not  possible  to  be  a  Christian,  still  less  to  any  useful  purpose  a 
minister,  least  of  all  a  missionary.  In  resolving  to  quit  your  native 
country,  and  to  relinquish  your  nearest  connexions,  with  little  expec- 
tation of  beholding  them  again  in  the  flesh,  you  have  given  decisive 
indications  of  this  spirit ;  nor  to  a  mind  like  yours,  exquisitely  alive 
to  the  sensibilities  of  nature  and  friendship,  can  the  sacrifice  you  have 
already  made  be  deemed  inconsiderable.  But  as  it  is  still  impossible 
for  you  to  conjecture  the  extent  of  the  privations  and  trials  to  which, 
in  the  pursuit  of  your  object,  you  may  be  exposed,  your  situation  is 
not  unlike  that  of  Abraham,  who  being  commanded  to  leave  his  own 
country  and  his  father's  house,  went  out  not  knowing  whither  he  went. 
As  you  are  entering  on  an  untried  scene,  where  difficulties  may  arise 
to  exercise  your  patience  and  fortitude  of  wliich  you  can  form  but  a 
very  inadequate  conception,  you  will  do  well  to  contemplate  the  ex- 
ample and  meditate  the  words  of  St.  Paul  in  circumstances  not  very 
dissimilar  : — And  now  I  go  up  bound  in  spirit  to  Jerusalem,  not  know- 
ing what  shall  befall  me  there,  save  that  in  every  city  the  Holy  Ghost 
witnesseth  tliat  bonds  and  afliction  await  me:  but  none  of  these  things 
move  me ;  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  to  myself,  so  that  I  may  fnish 
my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  to 
fulfil  it.  The  love  of  ease  or  the  indulgence  of  secular  ambition  would 
be  fatal  to  the  object  you  are  pursuing ;  nor  in  j^our  situation  is  there 
any  thing  so  much  to  be  dreaded  as  a  divided  heart,  a  spirit  which 
hesitates  between  the  calls  of  duty  and  the  attractions  of  the  world. 
To  arm  yourself  with  the  same  mind  that  was  in  Christ,  who  himself 
suffered,  leaving  us  an  example  that  we  should  v^alk  in  his  steps,  is  a 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  16] 

most  indispensable  part  of  your  duty.  In  proportion  as  you  feel  your- 
self a  stranger  upon  the  earth,  eagerly  attached  to  none  of  its  enjoy- 
ments  or  pursuits,  prepared  without  repining  to  relinquish  whatever 
Providence  may  demand,  and  suffer  whatever  it  may  inflict ;  in  a  word, 
in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  j^ou  abandon  all  right  m  yourself, 
will  you  be  qualified  for  the  work  of  an  evangelist.  Purged  from 
earthly  concretions  and  worldly  passions,  you  Avill  become  a  vessel  of 
honour  fitted  for  the  Master''s  use.  He  who  is  not  possessed  of  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  a  self-denying  spirit,  which  was  eminently  the 
spirit  of  Him  who  pleased  not  himself  can  engage  in  no  employment 
more  irksome  and  intolerable  than  that  of  a  missionary ;  for  what 
pleasure  can  he  expect,  what  advantage  can  he  hope  to  reap,  inde- 
pendent of  the  consciousness  or  the  hope  of  doing  good  ?  By  the 
nature  of  your  undertaking,  all  the  avenues  to  secular  reputation  and 
emolument  are  shut  against  you ;  on  the  brilliant  illusions  with  which 
(he  children  of  this  world  are  enchanted  you  have  closed  your  eyes, 
and  nothing  is  left  but  the  severe  and  sublime  satisfaction  of  following 
in  the  steps  of  those  apostles  and  prophets  who,  in  the  midst  of  the 
derision  of  the  world,  exhausted  themselves  in  a  series  of  efforts  to 
enlighten  and  to  save  it.  You  have  chosen,  it  is  true,  the  better  part ; 
but  it  is  a  part  which  you  must  not  hope  to  sustain  but  by  the  perfect 
subjection  and  mortification  of  every  rival  passion.  You  must  be 
content  to  derive  your  satisfaction  from  yourself,  or  rather  from  your 
consciousness  of  the  Divine  approbation,  since  you  will  meet  with  few 
disposed  to  sympathize  in  your  sorrows  or  rejoice  in  your  success. 

The  next  qualification  necessary  for  a  teacher  of.Christianity  among 
heathens  is  the  spirit  of  faith,  by  which  I  intend,  not  merely  that 
cordial  belief  of  the  truth  which  is  essential  to  a  Christian,  but  that, 
unshaken  persuasion  of  the  promises  of  God  respecting  the  triumph 
and  enlargement  of  his  kingdom  which  is  sufficient  to  denominate  its 
possessor  strong  in  faith.  It  is  impossible  that  the  mind  of  a  mis- 
sionary should  be  too  much  impressed  with  the  beauty,  glory,  and 
grandeur  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  as  it  is  unfolded  in  the  oracles  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  ;  or  with  the  certainty  of  the  final  accom- 
plishment of  those  oracles,  founded  on  the  faithfulness  and  omnipo- 
tence of  their  Author.  To  those  parts  of  Scripture  his  attention  should 
be  especially  directed  in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  employs  and  exhausts, 
so  to  speak,  the  whole  force  and  splendour  of  inspiration  in  depicting 
the  future  reign  of  the  Messiah,  together  with  that  astonishing  spec- 
tacle of  dignity,  purity,  and  peace  which  his  church  will  exhibit  when, 
having  the  glory  of  God,  her  bounds  shall  be  commensurate  with  those 
of  the  habitable  globe  ;  when  every  object  on  which  the  eye  shall  rest 
will  remind  the  spectator  of  the  commencement  of  a  new  age,  in  which 
the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men  and  he  dwells  among  them.  His 
spirit  should  be  imbued  with  that  sweet  and  tender  awe  which  such 
anticipations  will  infallibly  produce,  whence  will  spring  a  generous 
contempt  of  the  world,  and  an  ardour  bordering  on  impatience  to  be 
employed,  though  in  the  humblest  sphere,  as  the  instrument  of  accele- 
fiting  such  a  period.  For  compared  to  this  destiny  in  reserve  for  the 
Vol.  I.— L 


162  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

children  of  nun,  eonii- uod  to  tliis  glory,  invisible  at  present,  and  hid 
behind  the  i-londs  uliich  envelop  this  dark  and  troubled  scene,  the 
briglitest  day  that  has  hitherto  shone  upon  the  Avorld  is  midnight,  and 
the  highest  splendours  that  have  invested  it  the  shadow  of  death. 

Independent  of  these  assurances,  the  idea  of  converting  pagan  nations 
to  the  Christian  faith  must  appear  chimerical.  The  attemj)t  to  per- 
suade them  to  relinquish  their  ancient  mode  of  thinking,  corroborated 
by  habit,  by  example,  by  interest,  and  to  adopt  a  new  system  of 
opinions  and  feelings,  and  enter  on  a  new  course  of  life,  will  ever  be 
deemed  by  the  worldly-wise  impracticable  and  visionary.  Pass  over 
the  isles  of  Chittim  and  see,  said  the  Lord  by  the  luouth  of  Jeremiah, 
and  send  unto  Kedar,  and  consider  diligently  and  see  if  there  be  such 
a  thing:  Hath  a  nation  changed  their  (rods?  For  a  nation  to  chansre 
their  gods  is  represented  by  the  highest  authority  as  an  event  almost 
unparalleled :  and  if  it  be  so  difficult  to  induce  them  to  change  the 
mode  of  their  idolatry,  how  much  more  to  persuade  them  to  abandon 
it  altogether  !  Idolatry  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  mere  speculative 
error  respecting  the  object  of  worship,  of  little  or  no  practical  efficacy. 
Its  hold  upon  the  mind  of  a  fallen  creature  is  most  tenacious,  its  ope- 
ration most  extensive.  It  is  a  corrupt  practical  institution,  involving 
i  whole  system  of  sentiments  and  manners  which  perfectly  moulds 
and  transforms  its  votaries.  It  modifies  human  nature  in  every  aspect 
under  which  it  can  be  contemplated,  being  intimately  blended  and 
incorporated  with  all  its  perceptions  of  good  and  evil,  with  all  its 
infirmities,  passions,  and  fears.  In  a  country  like  India,  where  it  has 
been  established  for  ages,  its  ramifications  are  so  extended  as  to  come 
into  contact  with  every  mode  and  every  incident  of  life.  Scarce  a 
day  or  an  hour  passes  with  a  Hindoo,  in  which,  by  the  abstinences 
it  enjoins  and  the  ceremonies  it  prescribes,  he  is  not  reminded  of  his 
religion.  It  meets  him  at  every  turn,  presses  like  the  atmosphere  on 
all  sides,  and  holds  him  by  a  thousand  invisible  chains.  By  inces- 
santly admonishing  him  of  something  which  he  must  do,  or  something 
which  he  must  forbear,  it  becomes  the  strongest  of  his  active  habits ; 
while  the  multiplicity  of  objects  of  worship,  distinguished  by  an  infinite 
variety  in  their  character  and  exploits,  is  sufficient  to  fill  the  whole 
sphere  of  his  imagination.  In  the  indolent  repose  Avhich  his  constitu 
tion  and  climate  incline  him  to  indulge,  he  suflers  his  fancy  to  wander 
without  limit  amid  scenes  of  voluptuous  enjoyment  or  objects  of  terror 
and  dismay  ;  Avhile  revolving  the  history  of  his  gods,  he  conceives 
liimself  absorbed  in  holy  contemplations.  There  is  not  a  vicious  pas- 
sion he  can  be  disposed  to  cherish,  not  a  crime  he  can  be  tempted  to 
commit  for  which  he  may  not  find  a  sanction  and  an  example  in  the 
legends  of  his  gods.  Though  the  system  of  polytheism  established 
in  India,  considered  in  an  argumentative  light,  is  "beneath  contempt, 
being  destitute  of  the  least  shadow  of  proof,  as  well  as  of  all  coherence 
in  its  principles  ;  yet,  viewed  as  an  instrument  of  establishing  a  des- 
potic empire  over  the  mind,  nothing,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  was 
ever  more  artfully  contrived  ;  not  to  mention  the  distinction  of  castes 
which  is  obviously  adapted  to  fix  and  perpetuate  every  other  insiitU' 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  163 

uon.  That  the  true  xehgion  should  degenerate  into  idolatry  is  easily 
to  be  accounted  for  from  the  known  principles  of  human  nature,  be- 
cause such  deterioration  is  aided  bv  its  corruption,  flatters  its  strongest 
propensities,  and  artfully  adapts  itself  to  whatever  is  feeble,  sensitive, 
and  voluptuous  in  the  character  of  the  species. 

Facilis  descensus  Averni. 

As  it  is  easy  to  descend  from  an  elevation  Avhich  it  is  di;fficult  to 
climb,  to  fall  from  the  adoration  of  the  Supreme  Being  to  the  worship 
of  idols  demands  no  effort.  Idolatry  is  strongly  intrenched  in  the  cor- 
ruptions, and  fortified  by  the  weakness  of  human  nature.  Hence  we 
find  all  nations  have  sunk  into  it  in  succession,  frequently  in  opposition 
to  the  strongest  remonstrances  of  inspired  prophets,  while  we  have  no 
example  in  the  history  of  the  world  of  a  single  city,  family,  or  indi- 
vidual who  has  renounced  it  through  the  mere  operation  of  unassisted 
reason  :  such  is  the  fatal  propensity  of  mankind  to  that  enormity.  It 
is  the  veil  of  the  covering  cast  over  all  flesh,  which  nothing  but  the 
eflulgence  of  revelation  has  pierced.  The  true  religion  satisfies  and 
enlarges  the  reason,  but  militates  against  the  inclinations  of  men. 
Resting  on  a  few  sublime  truths,  addressed  to  the  understanding  and 
conscience,  affording  few  distinct  images  to  the  fancy,  and  no  indul- 
gence to  the  passions,  it  can  only  be  planted  and  preserved  by  a  con- 
tinual effiux  from  its  Divine  Author,  of  whose  spirituality  and  elevation 
it  so  largely  partakes. 

But  however  diflicult  it  may  be  to  prevail  upon  men  to  relinquish 
the  practice  of  idolatry,  the  accomplishment  of  this  is  not  the  whole, 
perhaps  not  the  most  arduous  part  of  your  work,  since  you  are  too 
well  acquainted  with  the  genius  of  Christianity  to  permit  yourself  to 
rest  satisfied  witli  a.ny  external  profession  which  is  destitute  of  the 
fruits  of  the  Spirit.  The  change  you  wisTi  to  realize,  and  which  you 
will  alone  contemplate  with  satisfaction,  is  the  eflectual  conversion  of 
the  soul  from  sin  to  holiness,  and  from  the  world  to  God ;  and  how 
much  the  necessity  of  this  increases  the  difficulty  of  propagating  the 
gospel  among  heathens  Avith  success  is  so  obvious  that  I  need  not 
insist  upon  it  at  large.  The  valley  of  vision  in  Ezekiel,  filled  with 
bones  which  are  very  dry,  is  no  exaggerated  picture  of  the  state  of 
the  heathen  world  ;  and  what  less  than  an  Almighty  power  can  clothe 
them  with  sinews,  cover  them  with  flesh,  and  breathe  into  them  the 
breath  of  life  ? 

Hence  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  vigorous  faith  in  the  promises  of 
God  respecting  the  future  renovation  of  mankind,  which  will  support 
you  amid  the  greatest  discouragements,  prompt  you  to  hope  against 
hope,  and  inspire  you  with  imsliaken  perseverance  and  resolution; 
besides  that  on  account  of  the  glory  it  gives  to  God,  it  imparts  by  divine 
appointment  to  its  possessor  an  interest  in  his  all-sufficiency  and  power. 
It  is  a  mysterious  link  in  the  cliain  of  moral  causes  and  effects  which 
connects  the  weakness  of  the  creature  with  the  almightiness  of  God. 
Be  it  unto  thee,  said  our  Lord  on  a  certain  occasion,  be  it  unto  thee 
according  to  thy  faith.    Faith,  considered  as  a  mere  speculative  assent 

L2 


1G4  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

to  the  trutli  of  a  divine  testimony,  may  be  looked  upon  as  uniform  or 
stationary ;  but  when  we  consider  it  as  a  practical  principle,  as  one 
of  the  ijraces  of  the  Spirit,  we  perceive  it  to  be,  in  common  with  others, 
suscopiilile  of  continual  enlargement  and  increase.  In  the  degree  of 
power  which  future  and  invisible  realities  exert  over  the  mind,  in  the 
practical  energy  of  what  men  profess  to  believe,  in  the  promptitude 
and  certainty  with  which  it  determines  them  to  a  correspondent  con- 
duct, there  is  the  utmost  diversity  even  among  those  who  believe  with 
the  heart.  The  faith  to  which  the  Scriptures  attach  such  momentous 
consequences,  aud  ascribe  such  glorious  exph)its,  is  a  practical  habit, 
whicli,  like  everj'-  other,  is  strengthened  and  increased  by  continual 
exercise.  It  is  nourished  by  meditation,  by  prayer,  and  the  devout 
perusal  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  the  light  which  it  diffuses  becomes 
stronger  and  clearer  by  an  unintercepted  converse  with  its  object  and 
a  faithful  compliance  with  its  dictates ;  as  on  the  contrary  it  is  weak- 
ened and  obscured  by  whatever  wounds  the  conscience  or  impairs  the 
purity  and  spirituality  of  the  mind.  This  is  the  shield  which  will 
cover  you  from  ever}'  assault ;  the  chief  part  of  that  defensive  armour 
which  it  behooves  you  to  put  on.  Reposing  on  the  word  of  Him  with 
whom  all  things  are  possible,  of  Him  who  cannot  lie ;  in  the  formi- 
dable bulwarks  of  idolatry,  in  the  invincible  rampart  of  prejudice  and 
superstition  which  the  great  adversary  of  mankind  has  cast  up  to 
obstruct  the  progress  of  truth,  you  will  see  nothing  to  appal  you :  you 
will  feel  the  battle  not  to  be  yours,  but  the  Lord's,  who,  determined  to 
subdue  his  enemies  under  his  feet,  condescends  to  employ  you  as  an 
humble  instrument  of  his  victories  ;  and  instead  of  sinking  under  the 
consciousness  of  weakness,  you  will  glory  in  your  infirmities,  that  the 
power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  you. 

Allow  me  to  remind  you  of  the  absolu*e  necessity  of  cultivating  a 
mild,  conciliating,  affectionate  temper  in  the  discharge  of  your  office. 
If  an  uninterested  spectator,  after  a  careful  perusal  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, were  asked  what  he  conceived  to  be  its  distinguishingc  char- 
acteristic,  he  would  reply  without  hesitation,  that  wonderful  spirit  of 
philanthropy  by  which  it  is  distinguished.  It  is  a  perpetual  com- 
mentary on  that  sublime  aphorism,  God  is  love.  As  the  Christian 
religion  is  an  exhibition  of  the  incomprehensible  mercy  of  God  to  a 
guilty  race,  so  it  is  dispensed  in  a  manner  perfectly  congenial  with  its 
nature  ;  and  the  book  Avhich  contains  it  is  replete  with  such  unaffected 
strokes  of  tenderness  and  goodness  as  are  to  be  found  in  no  other 
volume.  The  benign  spirit  of  the  gospel  infused  itself  into  the  breast 
of  its  first  missionaries.  In  St.  Paul,  for  example,  we  behold  the  most 
heroic  resolution,  the  most  lofty  superiority  to  all  the  modes  of 
intimidation  and  danger,  a  spirit  Avhich  rose  with  its  difficulties  and 
exulted  in  the  midst  of  the  most  dismaying  objects  ;  yet  when  we  look 
more  narrowly  into  his  character,  and  investigate  his  motives,  we  per- 
ceive it  was  his  attachment  to  mankind  that  inspired  him  with  this 
intrepidity,  and  urged  him  to  conflicts  more  painful  and  arduous  than 
the  votaries  of  glory  have  ever  sustained.  Who  would  have  supposed 
it  possible  for  the  same  breast  to  be  the  seat  of  so  much  energy  anc 


REV.  EUSTACE  CARE^.  Ififl 

so  iLiuch  softness  ?  that  he  who  changed  the  face  of  tlie  world  by  his 
preaching,  and  while  a  prisoner  made  his  judge  tremble  on  the  tribunal, 
could  stoop  to  embrace  a  fugitive  slave,  and  to  employ  the  most  exqui- 
site address  to  effect  his  reconciliation  with  his  master?  The  con- 
version of  Onesimus  afforded  him  a  joy  like  the  joy  of  harvest,  and  as 
men  rejoice  v)hen  they  divide  the  spoil.  When  the  spiritual  interests 
of  mankind  were  concerned,  no  difficulties  so  formidable  as  to  shake 
his  resolution,  no  details  so  insignificant  as  to  escape  his  notice.  To 
the  utmost  inflexibility  of  principle  he  joined  the  gentlest  condescension 
to  human  infirmity,  becoming  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might  win 
some:  to  the  Jews  he  became  a  Jeio,  that  he  might  gain  the  Jews,  to  them 
that  were  without  lata,  as  without  law,  adapting  on  all  occasions  his 
modes  of  address  to  the  character  and  disposition  of  those  with  whom 
he  conversed.  It  was  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  souls  that  produced 
and  harmonized  those  apparent  discordances. 

Such  is  the  example  yoji  must  propose  for  your  imitation,  if  you 
would  realize  to  any  considerable  extent  the  object  of  your  mission  to 
the  heathen.  By  a  mild  and  miassuming  deportment,  by  an  attention 
to  their  worldly  as  well  as  to  their  spiritual  interests,  by  adopting,  as 
far  as  you  have  ability,  whatever  may  contribute  to  their  happiness 
and  improvement,  convince  them  that  you  are  the  friend  of  man. 
When  you  have  established  yourself  in  their  affections,  you  have  gained 
an  important  point ;  you  have  possessed  yourself  of  a  signal  advantage 
for  the  successful  prosecution  of  your  work. 

Your  business  is  to  persuade  men  ;  and  hoAV  can  you  expect  to  suc- 
ceed unless  you  conciliate  their  regard  ?  which  is  more  necessary  on 
account  of  the  seeming  severity  which  attaches  to  some  part  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ.  AVere  you  permitted  to  inculcate  a  self-pleasing 
doctrine,  the  want  of  suavity  and  gentleness  of  manner  might  easily^ 
be  dispensed  with;  the  laxity  of  the  precept  would  compensate  for  the 
austerity  of  the  teacher.  But  when  yo.u  are  called  to  insist  on  the 
state  of  man  as  a  fallen  and  guilty  creature,  to  enforce  the  necessity 
of  self-denial,  to  impose  the  most  powerful  restraints  on  the  indulgence 
of  criminal  passions ;  when  you  must  denounce  the  wrath  of  God 
against  all  unrighteousness  and  ungodliness  of  men,  great  mildness 
and  afi'ection  are  requisite  to  prevent  such  representations  from  exciting 
disgust.  What  is  awful  and  alarming  in  Christianity  should  be  softened 
and  tempered  by  a  persuasive  tenderness  of  address.  Let  ii,  be  your 
care  to  divest  religion  of  whatever  is  unlovely  and  repidsive,  that  it 
may  appear  not  only  pure,  but  gentle  ;  not  only  majestic,  but  amiable  ; 
equally  favourable  to  the  enjoyment  and  the  communication  of  happi- 
ness. But  I  have  dwelt  longer  on  this  head  than  was  necessary,  when 
I  recollect  that  the  person  I  am  addressing  is  distinguished  by  a  temper 
which  will  render  the  mild  condescensions  I  am  recommending  not 
more  his  duty  than  his  delight. 

The  affectionate  and  conciliatory  disposition  we  have  been  enforcing 
must  be  combined  with  prudence  and  the  diligent  study  of  human 
nature,  which  you  will  find  absolutely  necessary  to  conduct  you  through 
intricate  and  unbeaten  paths.     St.  Paul  frequently  reminds  the  Thessa- 


166  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

lonians  of  the  manner  of  his  entrance  among  them.  In  the  first  intro- 
duction of  the  gospel  among  a  people,  it  is  of  great  importance  that 
every  step  be  well  weighed,  that  nothing  be  done  which  is  rash,  offen- 
sive, or  indecorous,  but  every  precaution  employed  consistent  w^ith 
godly  simplicity  to  disarm  prejudice  and  conciliate  respect ;  nor  is 
there  anything  in  the  conduct  of  the  first  ministers  of  the  gospel  more 
to  be  admired  than  the  exquisite  propriety  with  which  they  conducted 
themselves  in  the  most  delicate  situations.  Their  zeal  was  exempt 
from  indecorum,  their  caution  from  timidity  or  art.  In  the  commence- 
ment of  every  great  and  hazardous  undertaking  the  first  measures  are 
usually  decisive,  at  least  in  those  instances  in  which  success  is 
dependent,  under  God,  on  the  voluntary  co-operation  of  mankind.  A 
single  act  of  imprudence  is  sufficient  to  blast  the  undertaking  of  a 
missionary,  which,  in  the  situation  of  an  ordinary  minister,  would 
scarcely  be  felt.  The  best  method  of  securing  yourself  from  errors 
in  this  quarter  is  to  endeavour  to  acquire  as  large  a  measure  as  possible 
of  the  graces  of  the  spirit,  to  be  deeply  imbued  with  the  wisdom  which 
is  from  above.  Nothing  subtle  or  refined  sliould  enter  into  the  views 
of  a  Christian  missionary.  Let  him  be  continually  elevating  his  prin- 
ciples, and  purifying  his  motives ;  let  him  be  clothed  with  humility, 
and  actuated  on  all  occasions  with  love  to  God  and  the  souls  of  men, 
and  his  character  cannot  fail  of  being  marked  with  a  propriety  and 
beauty  which  will  ultimately  command  universal  esteem.  These 
were  the  only  arts  which  a  Schwartz  in  the  east,  and  a  Brainerd  in  the 
west,  condescended  to  cultivate. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  functions  of  a  missionary 
connect  him  more  with  mankind  than  ordinary  ministers,  and  less 
admit  of  an  entire  abstraction  from  the  world  ;  on  which  account  he  wiL 
sometimes  be  exposed  to  difficulties  from  which  nothing  can  extricate 
him  but  a  considerable  acquaintance  with  men  and  things.  He  wdll 
probably  be  called  to  transact  affairs  of  considerable  moment  with 
persons  in  superior  stations,  with  men  of  dissimilar  characters  and 
habits,  of  different  nations  and  religions,  who  possess  nothing  in 
common  but  the  epidemic  selfishness  of  human  nature ;  in  an  inter- 
course with  whom  he  will  need  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  combined 
with  the  innocence  of  the  dove.  The  prudence,  however,  which  it 
is  desirable  a  missionary  should  possess  is  not  a  timid,  calculating 
policy;  ii,  is  manly  and  heroic,  operating  with  promptitude  and  vigour 
on  an  extensive  fund  of  knowledge,  acquired  by  habits  of  acute  and 
vigilant  observation.  Of  many  functions  of  life  it  is  possible  to  foresee 
the  duties  they  comprise,  and.  to  ascertain  beforehand  the  extent  of 
their  demand  on  our  time  and  talents.  In  the  office  of  a  missionary  it 
is  impossible.  His  engagements  must  be  in  a  great  degree  fortuhous, 
arising  out  of  circumstances  which  he  could  neither  foresee  nor  control; 
and  hence,  unless  he  possess  a  prompt  and  enlightened  judgment,  he 
will  often  feel  himself  embarrassed  and  perplexed. 

There  is  much  in  the  situation  of  a  missionary  calculated  to  keep 
him  awake  and  attentive  to  his  duties.  To  a  stated  pastor,  it  is  con- 
fessed, there  are  not  wanting  powerful  motives  to  diligence  and  exer- 


REV.  EUSlAOJt;  CAREY.  Ifi7 

lion,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  equally  obvious  there  are  considerable 
temptations  to  indolence  and  formality.  Since  the  services  he  is 
engaged  to  perform  admit  of  little  variety,  and  are  easily  reducible  to  a 
system,  they  are  in  no  small  danger  of  being  performed  rather  from 
the  mechanism  of  habit  than  the  impulse  of  feeling,  and  much  ardour 
of  mind  is  requisite  to  infuse  freshness  and  novelty  into  a  series  of 
operations  so  uniform.  In  tlie  performance  of  duties  which  proceed 
in  a  settled  roytine,  it  is  equally  difficult  to  feel  and  to  impart  an 
interest.  With  the  missionary  it  is  quite  the  reverse.  Incapable  as 
he  is  of  forming  a  conception  of  the  situation  in  which  he  may  be 
placed,  or  of  the  difficulties  with  which  he  may  be  surrounded,  he 
must  be  conscious  his  undertaking  involves  a  character  of  enterprise 
and  hazard.  He  is  required  to  explore  new  paths ;  and  leaving  the 
footsteps  of  the  flock,  to  go  in  quest  of  the  lost  sheep,  on  whatever 
mountain  it  may  have  wandered,  or  in  whatever  valley  it  may  be  hid. 
He  must  be  prepared  to  encounter  prejudice  and  error  in  strange  and 
unwonted  shapes,  to  trace  the  aberrations  of  reason,  and  the  deviations 
from  rectitude  through  all  the  diversified  m^zes  of  superstition  and 
idolatry.  He  is  engaged  in  a  series  of  offensive  operations :  he  is  in  the 
field  of  battle,  wielding  weapons  which  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty,  through 
God,  to  the  pulling  doivn  the  stro?igholds  of  Satan.  When  not  in  action 
he  is  yet  encamped  in  an  enemy's  country,  where  nothing  can  secure 
his  acquisitions  or  preserve  him  from  surprise  but  incessant  vigilance. 
The  voluntary  exile  from  his  native  country  to  which  he  submits  is 
sufficient  to  remind  him  continually  of  his  important  embassy,  and  to 
induce  a  solicitude  that  so  many  sacrifices  may  not  be  made,  so  many 
privations  undergone  in  vain.  He  holds  the  lamp  of  instruction  to 
those  who  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death ;  and  while 
there  remains  a  particle  of  ignorance  not  expelled,  a  single  prejudice 
not  vanquished,  a  sinful  or  idolatrous  custom  not  relinquished,  his  task 
is  left  unfinished.  It  is  not  enough  for  him  on  a  stated  day  to  address 
an  audience  on  the  concerns  of  eternity:  he  must  teach  from  house  to 
house,  and  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  embracing  every 
opportunity  which  offers  of  inculcating  the  principles  of  a  new  religion 
as  well  as  of  confirming  the  souls  of  his  disciples.  He  must  consider 
himself  as  the  raoutli  and  interpreter  of  that  wisdom  ivhich  cricth  with- 
out, which  uttereth  her  voice  in  the  streets,  which  crieth  in  the  chief 
places  of  concourse. 

Under  these  impressions  you  will  peruse  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
which  record  the  methods  by  which  the  gospel  was  first  propagated, 
with  deep  attention,  where  you  will  trace  precedents  the  most  instruc- 
tive as  well  as  difficulties  surmounted  and  trials  endured  exactly 
similar  to  your  own ;  nor  will  you  fail  to  feel  a  sympathy  of  spirit 
with  those  holy  men  in  their  labours  and  sufferings,  which  other 
ministers  can  butvery  imperfectly  possess.  Encompassed  with  such  a 
cloud  of  witnesses,  you  will  esteem  it  no  inconsiderable  honour  to  share 
in  the  same  combat,  encounter  the  same  enemies,  and  accomplish  the 
share  allotted  you  of  those  sufferings  which  remain  to  Christ's  mystical 
body.     I  scarcely  need  recommend  to  your  attention  the  letters  of  St. 


108  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

Paul  to  Tiinotliy  ami  Titus,  where  the  oflicc  of  an  evangelist  (fur  such 
you  must  cdiisiilcr  yourself)  is  delineated  with  such  precision  and 
iideliiv.  While  you  peruse  his  inspired  directions  you  arc  entitled  to 
consider  vourself  as  addressed,  inasmuch  as  the  spirit  under  whose 
direction  thev  were  written  unquestionably  intended  them  for  the 
instruction  of  all  who  are  in  similar  circumstances. 

In  directing  your  view  to  apostolical  precedents,  attend  not  so  much 
V)  their  htler  as  to  i\\e\x  spirit :  investigate  carefully  the  circumstances 
■"n  which  they  were  placed  ;  compare  them  with  your  own  wdlh  respect 
to  the  particulars  in  which  they  coincide  and  in  which  they  differ,  that 
you  may  follow  them,  not  as  a  servile  copyist,  but  as  a  judicious  and 
enlightened  imitator. 

Be  sirong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  Among  the  nations 
which  will  be  the  scene  of  your  future  labours,  you  will  witness  a 
state  of  things  essentially  different  from  that  w^hich  prevails  here, 
where  the  name  of  Christ  is  held  in  reverence,  the  prmcipal  doctrines 
of  his  religion  speculatively  acknowledged,  and  the  mstitutes  of  wor- 
ship widely  extended  and  diffused.  The  leaven  of  Christian  piety  has 
spread  itself  in  innumerable  directions,  modified  public  opinion,  im- 
proved the  state  of  society,  and  given  birth  to  many  admirable  institutions 
unknown  to  pagan  countries.  The  authority  of  the  Saviour  is  recog- 
nised, his  injunctions  in  some  instances  obeyed,  and  the  outrages  of 
impiety  restrained  by  law,  by  custom,  and,  above  all,  by  the  silent 
counteraction  of  piety  in  its  sincere  professors.  Hence,  in  combating 
the  vices  and  irreligion  of  the  age,  so  many  principles  are  conceded, 
and  so  much  ground  already  won  from  the  adversary,  that  little  remains 
but  to  urge  him  with  the  legitimate  consequences  of  his  own  opinions, 
and  to  rouse  the  dormant  energies  of  conscience  by  the  exhibition  of 
acknowledged  truth.  Ministers  of  the  gospel  in  this  quarter  of  the 
globe  resemble  the  commanders  of  an  army  stationed  in  a  conquered 
country,  whose  inhabitants,  overawed  and  subdued,  yield  a  partial  obe- 
dience ;  they  have  sufficient  employment  in  attempting  to  conciliate 
the  affections  of  the  natives,  and  in  carrying  into  execution  the  orders 
and  regulations  of  their  Prince  ;  since  there  is  much  latent  disaflection, 
though  no  open  rebellion,  a  strong  partiality  to  their  former  rulers, 
with  few  attempts  to  erect  the  standard  of  revolt. 

In  India,  Satan  maintains  an  almost  undisputed  empire,  and  the 
powers  of  darkness,  secure  of  their  dominion,  riot  and  revel  at  their 
pleasure,  sporting  themselves  with  the  misery  of  their  vassals,  whom 
they  incessantly  agitate  with  delusive  hopes  and  fantastic  terrors,  lead- 
ing them  captive  at  their  will,  while  few  efforts  have  been  made  to 
despoil  them  of  their  usurped  authority.  I'artial  invasions  have  been 
attempted  and  a  iew  captives  disenthralled ;  but  the  strength  and 
sinews  of  empire  remain  entire,  and  that  dense  and  palpable  darkness 
which  invests  it  has  scarcely  felt  the  impression  of  a  few  feeble  and 
scattered  rays.  In  India  you  will  witness  the  predominance  of  a  sys- 
tem which  provides  for  the  worship  of  gods  many  and  of  lords  many, 
while  it  excludes  the  adoration  of  the  Supreme  Being,  legitimates  cru- 
elty, polygamy,  and  lust,  debases  the  standard  of  morals,  oppresses 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  169 

with  ceremon.fis  those-whom  it  deprives  of  instruction,  and  suggests 
no  solid  hope  of  happiness  beyond  the  grave. 

You  will  witness  with  indignation  that  monstrous  alliance  between 
impurity  and  devotion,  obscenity  and  religion,  which  characterizes  the 
popular  idolatry  of  all  nations,  and  which,  in  opposition  to  the  pallia- 
ting sophistry  of  infidels,  sufficiently  evinces  it  to  be,  what  the  Scriptures 
assert— the  worship  of  devils,  not  of  God. 

When  we  consider  that  moral  causes  operate  on  free  agents,  we 
shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  their  effects  are  less  uniform  than  those 
which  result  from  the  action  of  material  and  physical  powers,  and  that 
human  minds  are  susceptible  of  opposite  impressions  from  the  same 
objects. 

On  such  as  have  neither  been  established  in  the  evidences  nor  felt 
*y><3  efficacy  of  reyealed  religion,  a  residence  in  a  pagan  country  has 
usually  a  most  pernicious  effect,  and  matures  latent  irreligion  into  open 
impiety.  The  absence  of  Christian  institutions  and  Christian  exam- 
ples leaves  them  at  liberty  to  gratify  their  sensual  inclinations  without 
control,  and  the  familiar  contemplation  of  pagan  manners  and  customs 
gradually  wears  out  every  trace  and  vestige  of  the  religion  in  which 
they  were  educated,  and  imboldens  them  to  consider  it  in  the  light  of 
a  local  superstition.  They  are  no  further  converts  to  the  Brahminical 
faith  than  to  prefer  it  to  their  own ;  that  is,  they  prefer  the  religion 
they  can  despise  with  impunity  to  one  that  afflicts  their  consciences, — 
that  which  leaves  them  free  to  that  which  restrains  them.  As  the 
secret  language  of  their  heart  had  always  been,  cause  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel  to  cease  from  among  us,  in  the  absence  of  God,  of  his  institutes, 
and  his  worship,  they  find  a  congenial  element,  nor  are  they  at  all  dis- 
pleased at  perceiving  the  void  filled  with  innumerable  fantastic  shapes 
and  chimeras  ;  for  they  contemplate  religion  with  great  composure, 
providing  it  be  sufficiently  ridiculous. 

You,  1  am  persuaded,  will  view  the  condition  of  millions  who  are 
involved  in  the  shades  of  idolatry,  originally  formed  in  the  image  of 
God,  now  totally  estranged  from  their  great  Parent,  and  reposing  their 
trust  on  things  which  cannot  profit,  with  different  emotions,  and  will 
be  anxious  to  recall  them  to  the  Bishop  and  Shepherd  of  their  souls. 
Instead  of  considering  the  most  detestable  species  of  idolatry  as  so 
many  different  modes  of  worshipping  the  One  Supreme,  agreeable  to 
the  jargon  of  infidels,  you  will  not  hesitate  to  regard  them  as  an  im- 
pious attempt  to  share  his  incomnumicable  honours  :  as  composing  that 
image  of  jealousy  which  he  is  engaged  to  smite,  confound,  and  destroy. 
When  you  compare  the  incoherence,  extravagance,  and  absurdity  which 
pervade  the  systems  of  polytheism  with  the  simple  and  sublime  truths 
of  the  gospel,  the  result  will  be  an  increased  attachment  to  that  mys- 
tery of  godliness.  When  you  observe  the  anxiety  of  the  Hindoo 
devotee  to  obtain  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  the  incredible  labours  and  suf- 
ferings which  he  cheerfully  undergoes  to  quiet  the  perturbations  of 
conscience,  the  doctrine  of  the  cross  will  rise,  if  possible,  still  higher 
in  your  esteem,  and  you  will  long  for  an  opportunity  of  crying  in  his 
ears.  Behold  the  Lamh  of  GofL  which  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world 


170  iU)DRESS  TO  THE 

When  y"'^  -.vituess  the  immolation  of  females  on  ihe  funeral  pile  ol 
their  hu'.)b.-::uls.  and  liie  barbarous  treatment  of  aged  parents  left  by 
their  children  to  perish  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  you  will  recognise 
tlie  footsteps  of  him  who  was  a  nuirderer  from  the  beginning,  and  will 
be  impatient  to  (Communicate  the  iliild  and  benevolent  maxims  of  the 
gospel.  When  you  behold  an  immense  population  held  in  chains  by 
that  detestable  institution  the  caste,  as  well  as  bowed  down  under  an 
intolerable  weight  of  Brahminical  superstitions,  you  w-ill  long  to  impart 
the  liberty  which  Christ  confers,  where  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek., 
Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  nor  free,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all. 

The  cultivation  of  a  wilderness,  however,  requires  a  more  robust 
and  vigorous  industry  than  is  necessary  to  preserve  in  a  good  condition 
the  ground  which  is  already  reclaimed.  The  noxious  produce  of  a 
long  tract  of  time  must  be  extirpated,  the  stubborn  and  intractable  soil 
broken  up,  marshes  drained,  irregularities  levelled,  and  much  persever- 
ing labour  employed,  ere  the  ordinary  operations  of  agriculture  can 
commence,  or  the  seed  be  cast  into  the  earth.  In  attempting  to  evan- 
gelize the  inhabitants  of  pagan  countries,  you  must  expect  to  encounter 
peculiar  difficulties:  you  will  meet  in  the  natives  with  the  ignorance 
and  mental  imbecility  of  children,  without  the  candour,  simplicity,  and 
freedom  from  prejudice  which  are  among  the  charms  of  that  tender  age. 
To  efface  erroneous  impressions,  to  eradicate  false  principles,  and 
reduce  them  even  to  a  natural  ^tate,  defective  and  corrupt  as  that  state 
is,  will  be  no  inconsiderable  task,  since  there  is  not  only  an  immense 
void  to  be  filled  and  great  deficiencies  to  be  slipplied,  but  principles 
and  prejudices  to  contend  with,  capable  of  the  most  active  resistance. 

In  recommending  the  principles  of  Christianity  to  a  pagan  nation,  I 
would  by  no  means  advise  the  adoption  of  a  refined  and  circuitous 
course  of  instruction,  commencing  with  an  argumentative  exposition  of 
the  principles  of  natural  religion,  and  from  thence  advancing  to  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  revelation ;  nor  would  I  advise  you  to  devote 
much  time  to  an  elaborate  confutation  of  the  Hindoo  or  Mahometan 
systems.  The  former  of  these  methods  woidd  be  far  too  subtle  and 
intricate  for  popular  use  ;  the  latter  calculated  to  irritate.  Great  prac- 
tical effects  on  the  populace  are  never  produced  by  profound  argumenta- 
tion ;  and  every  thing  which  tends  to  irritation  and  disgust  should  be 
carefully  avoided.  Let  your  instruction  be  in  the  form  of  a  testimony : 
let  it,  with  respect  to  the  m.ode  of  exhibiting  it,  though  not  to  the  spirit 
of  the  teacher,  be  dogmatic.  Testify  repentance  towards  God  and 
faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  might  become  a  Socrates,  who  w'as 
left  to  the  light  of  nature,  to  express  himself  with  diffidence,  and  to 
affirm  that  he  had  spared  no  pains  in  acting  up  to  the  character  of  a 
philosopher, — in  other  words,  a  diligent  inquirer  after  truth ;  but  w'hether 
he  had  philosophized  aright,  or  attained  the  object  of  his  inquiries,  he 
knew  not,  but  left  it  to  be  ascertained  in  that  world  on  w^hich  he  w^as 
entering.  In  him  such  indications  of  modest  distrust  were  graceful 
and  aff'ecting,  but  vv'ould  little  become  the  disciple  of  revelation  or  the 
Christian  minister,  who  is  entitled  to  say  w'ith  St.  John,  we  know  that 
th".  whole  world  lie~:h  in  wickedness,  and  that  the  Son  of  God  is  come. 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  17] 

and  hath  given  us  an  understanding  to  know  him  that  is  iru(,  and  we 
are  in  him  that  is  true,  even  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

After  reminding  them  of  their  state  as  guiUy  and  poUuted  creatures, 
which  the  ceremonies  of  their  rehgion  teach  them  to  confess,  exhibit 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Hindostan  the  cross  of  Christ  as  their  only  refuge. 
Acquaint  them  with  his  incarnation,  his  character  as  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Son  of  man,  his  offices,  and  the  design  of  his  appearance  ;  not 
with  the  air  of  a  disptiter  of  this  world,  but  of  him  who  is  conscious  to 
himself  of  his  possessing  the  medicine  of  life,  the  treasure  of  immor- 
tality, which  he  is  anxious  to  impart  to  guilty  men.  Insist  fearlessly 
on  the  futility  and  vanity  of  all  human  metliods  of  expiation,  on  the 
impotence  of  idols,  and  the  command  of  God  to  all  men  every  where  to 
repent,  inasmuch  as  he  has  appointed  a  day  in  which  he  will  judge  the 
world  in  righteousness.  Display  the  sufierings  of  Christ  like  one  who 
was  an  eyewitness  of  those  sufferings,  and  hold  up  the  blood,  the 
precious  blood  of  atonement,  as  issuing  warm  from  the  cross.  It  is  a 
peculiar  excellence  of  the  gospel,  that  in  its  wonderful  adaptation  to 
the  state  and  condition  of  mankind  as  fallen  creatures,  it  bears  intrinsic 
marks  of  its  divinity,  and  is  supported  not  less  by  internal  than  by 
external  evidence.  By  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  conscience,  by  a  faith- 
ful delineation  of  man  in  his  grandeur  and  in  his  weakness,  in  his 
original  capacity  for  happiness,  and  his  present  misery  and  guilt,  pre- 
sent this  branch  of  its  evidence  in  all  its  force.  Seize  on  every 
occasion  those  features  of  Christianity  v/hich  render  it  interesting  ;  and 
by  awakening  the  fears  and  exciting  the  hopes  of  your  hearers,  endea- 
vour to  annihilate  every  other  object,  and  make  it  appear  what  it  really 
is,  the  pearl  of  great  price,  the  sovereign  balm,  the  cure  of  every  ill, 
the  antidote  of  death,  the  precursor  of  immortality.  In  such  a  ministry, 
fear  not  to  give  loose  to  all  the  ardour  of  your  soul,  to  call  into  action 
every  emotion  and  every  faculty  which  can  exalt  or  adorn  it.  You 
will  find  ample  scope  for  all  its  force  and  tenderness  ;  and  should  you 
be  called  to  pour  your  life  as  a  libation  en  the  offering  of  the  Gentiles, 
you  will  only  have  the  more  occasion  to  exult  and  rejoice. 

In  order  to  qualify  yourself  for  the  performance  of  these  duties,  it  is 
above  all  things  necessary  for  you  to  acquaint  yourself  with  the 
genuine  doctrines  of  Christianity  in  their  full  extent ;  but  it  will  be 
neither  necessary  nor  expedient  to  initiate  your  converts  into  those 
controversies  which,  through  a  long  course  of  time,  have  grown  up 
among  Christians.  Endeavour  to  acquire  as  extensive  and  perfect  a 
knowledge  as  possible  of  the  dictates  of  inspiration,  and  by  establishing 
your  hearers  in  these,  preclude  the  entrance  of  error  rather  than  con- 
fute it.  Be  always  prepared  to  answer  every  modest  inquiry  into  the 
grounds  of  your  faith  and  practice  ;  and  that  you  may  be  more  capable 
of  entering  into  their  difficulties  and  anticipating  their  objections,  place 
yourself  as  much  as  possible  in  the  situation  of  those  whom  you  are 
called  to  instruct.  When  we  consider  the  permanent  consequences 
likely  to  result  from  first  impressions  on  the  minds  of  pagans,  the  few 
advantages  they  possess  for  religious  discussion,  and  the  extreme  con- 
fidenee  they  are  likely  to  repose  in  their  spiritual  guides,  you  must  be 


172  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

conscious  lu)\v  important  it  is  to  plant  wholly  a  right  seed.  Your  detec- 
tive representations  of  truth  will  not  soon  he  supplied,  nor  the  errors  you 
plant  extirpated,  since  we  find  societies  of  Ciiristians  in  these  parts  o( 
the  world,  where  discussion  and  controversy  abound,  retain  from  gene- 
ration to  generation  the  distinguishing  tenets  of  their  leaders..  In 
forming  the  plan  and  laying  the  foundation  of  an  edifice  which  it  is 
proposed  shall  last  for  ever,  it  is  desirable  that  no  materials  should  be 
admitted  but  such  as  are  solid  and  durable,  and  no  ornaments  introduced 
but  such  as  are  chaste  and  noble.  As  it  would  be  too  much  to  expect 
you  siioukl  perfectly  succeed  in  imparting  the  mind  of  Christ,  might  I 
be  permitted  to  advise,  you  will  lean  rather  to  the  side  of  defect  than 
excess,  and  in  points  of  inferior  magnitude  omit  what  is  true  rather 
than  inculcate  what  is  doubtful ;  since  the  influence  of  religion  on  the 
heart  depends  not  on  the  multiplicity,  but  on  the  quality  of  its  objects. 

The  unnecessary  multiplication  of  articles  of  faith  gives  a  character 
of  littleness  to  Christianity,  and  tends  in  no  small  degree  to  impress 
a  similar  character  on  its  professors.  The  grandeur  and  eflicacy  of 
the  gospel  results,  not  from  an  immense  accumulation  of  little  tilings, 
but  from  its  powerful  exhibition  of  a  few  great  ones.  If  you  are 
determined  to  initiate  your  hearers  into  the  subtleties  and  disputes 
which  have  prevailed  in  the  Western  workl,  I  would  recommend  you, 
m  imitation  of  the  church  of  Rome,  to  dispense  with  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  the  basis  of  instruction,  and  to  betake  yourself  to  the  WTitings 
of  the  schoolmen  ;  for  that  divine  volume,  rightly  interpreted,  supplies 
no  aliment  to  a  disputatious  humour,  w^hich  has  never  ceased,  since  it 
was  first  introduced,  to  be  the  scoff  of  infidels,  and  the  plague  of  the 
church. 

Among  the  indirect  benefits  which  may  be  expected  to  arise  from 
missions,  we  may  be  allowed  to  anticipate  a  more  pure,  simple,  apos- 
tolical mode  of  presenting  the  gospel,  which  it  may  be  doubted  whe- 
ther any  of  the  various  denominations  under  which  the  followers  of 
Christ  have  been  classed  have  exhibited  precisely  as  he  and  his 
apostles  taught  it.  In  consequence  of  the  collision  of  disputes,  and 
the  hostile  aspect  which  rival  sects  bear  to  each  other,  they  are 
scarcely  in  a  situation  to  investigate  truth  with  perfect  impartiality. 
Few  or  none  of  them  have  derived  their  sentiments  purely  from  the 
sacred  oracles,  as  the  result  of  independent  inquiry ;  but  almost  uni- 
versally from  some  distinguished  leader,  who  at  the  commencement 
of  the  Reformation  formed  his  faith,  and  planned  his  discipline,  amid 
the  heat  and  fury  of  theological  combat.  Terms  have  been  invented 
for  the  purpose  of  excluding  error,  or  more  accurately  defining  the 
truth,  to  which  the  New  Testament  is  a  stranger,  and  on  those  terms 
associations  and  impressions  ingrafted  which,  in  some  instances  per- 
haps, little  correspond  with  the  divine  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  It  is 
far  from  my  intention  to  insinuate  that  serious  and  fundamental  errors 
may  justly  be  imputed  to  the  classes  of  ('hristians  to  whom  1  refer ;  I 
am  fully  convinced  of  the  contrary : — but  it  may  be  worth  while  to 
inquire  whether  we  have  not  all  in  our  turn  receded  somewhat  from 
the  standard,  if  not  by  the  adoption  of  positive  error,  yet  by  a  dispro- 
portionate attention  to  some  parts  of  revelation,  to  the  neglect  of 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  I73 

others  equally  important-,  in  consequence  of  an  undue  partiality  to  our 
respective  peculiarities. 

The  situation  of  a  missionary  retired  from  the  scene  of  debate  and 
controversy,  who  has  continually  before  his  eyes  the  objects  which 
presented  themselves  to  the  attention  of  the  apostles,  is  favourable 
to  an  emancipation  from  prejudice  of  every  sort,  and  to  the  acquisition 
of  just  and  enlarged  conceptions  of  Christianity.  It  will  be  your  lot 
to  walk  the  same  wards  in  this  great  hospital,  and  to  prescribe  to  the 
same  class  of  patients  that  first  experienced  the  salutary  and  reno- 
vating power  of  the  gospel.  The  gods  which  are  worshipped  at  this 
time  in  India  are  supposed  by  Sir  William  Jones  to  be  the  very  same, 
under  different  names,  with  those  who  shared  the  adoration  of  Italy 
and  Greece  when  the  gospel  was  first  published  in  those  regions  ;  so 
that  you  will  be  an  eyewitness  of  the  very  evils  and  enormities  which 
then  prevailed  in  the  Western  hemisphere,  and  which  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit  so  efliectually  subdued.  You  will  be  under  great  advan- 
tages for  ascending  to  first  principles — for  tracing  the  stream  to  its 
head  and  spring,  by  having  incessantly  to  contemplate  that  state  of 
things  in  a  moral  view  of  which  every  page  of  Scripture  assumes  the 
existence,  but  of  which  the  inhabitants  of  Europe  have  no  living  ex- 
perience. It  is  with  great  satisfaction  accordingly  I  have  observed 
the  harmony  of  doctrine,  the  identity  of  instruction  which  has  per- 
vaded the  ministry  of  Protestant  missionaries,  who  have  been  employed 
under  the  auspices  of  difterent  denominations  of  Christians. 

If  to  survey  mankind  in  different  situations,  and  under  the  influence 
of  opposite  institutions,  civil  and  religious,  tends  to  elevate  the  mind 
above  vulgar  prejudice,  by  none  is  this  advantage  more  eminently  pos- 
sessed than  by  Christian  missionaries.  In  addition  to  the  advantages 
usually  anticipated  from  foreign  travel,  their  attention  is  directly  turned 
to  man  in  the  most  interesting  light  in  which  he  can  be  viewed.  An 
intelligent  missionary,  in  consequence  of  daily  conversing  with  the 
natives  on  the  most  momentous  subjects,  and  at  the  most  aftecting 
moments,  has  opportunities  of  becoming  acquainted,  not  merely  with 
the  surface  of  manners,  but  with  the  interior  of  the  character,  which 
can  rarely  fall  to  the  lot  of  any  other  person ;  besides  that  Chris- 
tianity, it  may  be  justly  affirmed,  is  the  best  decipherer  of  the  human 
heart,  and  is  that  alone  which  can  solve  its  contradictions  and  explain 
its  anomalies.  Hence  it  may  be  fairly  expected,  nor  will  the  expecta- 
tion tlisappoint  us,  that  an  experienced  missionary,  possessed  of  the 
talent  and  habit  of  observation,  will,  in  every  country,  deserve  to  be 
classed  among  the  most  enlightened  of  its  inhabitants. 

Few  things  more  powerfully  tend  to  enlarge  the  mind  than  con- 
versing with  great  objects  and  engaging  in  great  pursuits.  That  the 
object  you  are  pursuing  is  entitled  to  that  appellation  will  not  be 
questioned  by  him  who  reflects  on  the  infinite  advantages  derived  from 
Christianity  to  every  nation  and  clime  where  it  has  prevailed  in  its 
purity,  and  that  the  prodigious  superiority  which  Europe  possesses 
over  Asia  and  Africa  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  this  cause.  It  is  the 
possession  of  a  religion  which  comprehends  the  seeds  of  endless  im- 
provement, whi("h  maintains  an  incessant  struggle  with  whatever  is 


174  ADDRESS  TO  THE 

barbarous,  scflish,  or  inhuman  ;  which,  by  unveiling  futurity,  clothes 
morality  with  the  sanction  of  a  divine  law,  and  harmonizes  utility  and 
virtue  in  every  combination  of  events,  and  in  every  stage  of  existence 
a  religion  which,  by  allbrding  the  most  just  and  sublime  con^.eptions 
of  the  Deity,  and  of  tlie  moral  relations  of  man,  has  given  birth  at 
once  to  the  loftiest  speculation  and  the  most  child-like  humility,  uniting 
the  inhabitants  of  the  globe  into  one  family,  and  in  the  bonds  of  a 
common  salvation.  It  is  this  religion  which,  rising  upon  us  like  a 
liner  sun,  has  quickened  moral  vegetation,  and  replenished  Europe 
with  talents,  virtues,  and  exploits  which,  in  spite  of  its  physical  dis- 
advantages, have  rendered  it  a  paradise,  the  delight  and  wonder  of  the 
world.  An  attempt  to  propagate  this  religion  among  the  natives  of 
Hindostan  may  perhaps  be  stigmatized  as  visionary  and  romantic ; 
but  to  enter  the  lists  of  controversy  with  those  who  would  deny  it  to 
be  great  and  noble  would  be  a  degradation  to  reason.* 

On  these  principles  the  cause  of  missions  has  recently  been  sus- 
tained In  parliament,  and  the  propriety  and  expedience  of  attempting 
the  propagation  of  Christianity  in  India  demonstrated  by  arguments 
and  considerations  suited  to  the  meridian  of  such  assemblies.  AVe 
feel  ourselves  highly  indebted  to  those  distinguished  senators  who 
exerted  their  eloquence  on  that  occasion,  and  have  no  hesitation  in 
asserting  that  a  more  wise  and  magnanimous  measure  was  never 
adopted  by  an  enlightened  legislature  than  that  of  facilitating  the 
communication  of  Christian  knowledge  to  the  subjects  of  our  Eastern 
empire.  As  a  political  measure,  nothing  more  unexceptionable  or 
beneficial  can  be  conceived.  It  is  not  in  this  light,  however,  we  would 
wish  you  to  regard  your  present  undertaking.  What  may  satisfy  the 
views  of  a  statesman  ought  not  to  satisfy  a  Christian  minister.  It  is 
the  business  of  the  former  to  project  for  this  world  ;  of  the  latter  for 
eternity.  The  former  proposes  to  improve  the  advantages  and  to 
mitigate  the  evils  of  life ;  the  latter,  the  conquest  of  death  and  the 
achievement  of  immortality.  They  proceed  in  the  same  direction, 
it  is  true,  as  far  as  they  go ;  but  the  one  proceeds  infinitely  farther 
than  the  other. 

In  the  views  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmen,  compared  to  those 

*  It  is  impossible  to  read  the  strictures  of  the  Edinburgh  Review  on  Missions,  in  an  article  which 
appeared  under  that  title,  without  surprise  and  indignation  that  such  sentiments  could  find  admis- 
sion in  a  work  which  possesses  such  just  claims  to  literary  merit.  The  anonymous  writer  of  the 
article  alluded  to,  with  the  levity  of  a  buffoon,  joined  to  a  heart  of  iron  and  a  face  of  brass,  has 
more  than  insinuated  that  the  Christianity  attempted  to  be  promoted  in  India  by  t'lc  missionaries  at 
Serampcire  would,  were  it  adopted,  prove  a  serious  injury  to  the  natives,  and  that  they  are  much 
happier  and  more  virtuous  under  their  present  institutions.  The  system  of  religion,  be  it  remern 
bered,  which  these  men  have  attempted  to  introduce,  and  which  this  Christian  reviewer  loads  with 
abuse,  is  precisely  the  same  in  its  doctrinal  articles  with  that  of  the  Church  of  England,  to  which 
he  has  subscribed,  ex  animo  no  doubt,  his  unfeigned  assent  and  consent.  It  may  be  hoped,  that  at 
a  time  when  the  Church  of  England  is  evincing  a  spirit  of  moderation  and  forbearance,  and  can 
boast  of  so  many  prelates  and  dignitaries  distinguished  for  their  piety  and  learning,  no  plergsmai 
for  the  future  will  be  allowed  to  degrade  himself  in  a  similar  manner  without  the  most  indignan 
rebuke.  It  may  possibly  gratify  certain  spirits  to  see  the  dissenters  and  Methodists  vilified  and  abused 
but  they  will  do  well  to  remember,  that  the  indulgence  of  a  profane  and  scoffing  humour  must  b( 
ultimately  injurious,  not  only  to  Christianity,  but  to  any  Christian  community  whatever  ;  and  that  ti 
stab  religion  througli  the  sides  of  fanaticism  is  a  stale  artifice  of  infidels,  by  which  the  simplea 
can  no  longer  be  deceived.  I  sincerely  hope  the  conductors  of  the  Edinburgh  Review  have  lonj 
been  ashamed  of  the  article  in  question.  When  I  compare  the  intellectual  power  displayed  in  sonif 
articles  of  that  publication  with  the  extreme  ignorance  of  religion  evinced  in  others,  1  know  not  hou 
better  to  characterize  it  than  in  the  language  of  Virgd  speiking  of  Polyphemus, — 
"  Monstrum  horreudura  cui  lumen  ade^nptum." 


REV.  EUSTACE  CAREY.  175 

of  a  Chrislian  minister;  there  is  a  littleness  and  limitation  which  is 
not  to  be  imputed  in  one  case  as  a  mofal  imperfection,  nor  in  the  other 
as  a  personal  merit ;  the  difference  arising  purely  from  the  disparity 
m  the  subjects  upon  which  they  respectively  speculate.  Should  you 
be  asked,  on  your  arrival  in  India,  as  it  is  very  probable  you  will, 
what  there  is  in  Christianity  which  renders  it  so  inestimable  in  your 
eyes,  that  you  judged  it  fit  to  undertake  so  long,  dangerous,  and  expen- 
sive a  voyage  for  the  purpose  of  imparting  it, — you  will  answer,  Avithout 
hesitation,  it  is  the  power  of  God  to  salvation ;  nor  will  any  view 
of  it  short  of  this,  or  the  inculcation  of  it  for  any  inferior  purpose, 
enable  it  to  produce  even  those  moralizing  and  civilizing  effects  it  is 
so  powerfully  adapted  to  accomplish.  Christianity  will  civilize,  it  is 
true,  but  it  is  only  when  it  is  allowed  to  develop  the  energies  by  which 
it  sanctifies.  Christianity  will  inconceivably  ameliorate  the  present 
condition  of  being, — who  doubts  it  t  Its  universal  prevalence,  not  in 
the  name,  but  in  reality,  will  convert  this  world  into  a  semi-paradi- 
siacal state  ;  but  it  is  only  while  it  is  permitted  to  prepare  its  inhabit- 
ants for  a  better.  Let  her  be  urged  to  forget  her  celestial  origin  and 
destiny,  to  forget  that  she  came  from  God,  and  returns  to  God ;  and 
whether  she  is  employed  by  the  artful  and  enterprising,  as  the  instru- 
ment of  establishing  a  spiritual  empire  and  dominion  over  mankind, 
or  by  the  philanthropist  as  the  means  of  promoting  their  civilization 
and  improvement,  she  resents  the  foul  indignity,  claps  her  wings  and 
takes  her  flight,  leaving  nothing  but  a  base  and  sanctimonious  hypoc- 
risy in  her  room. 

Preach  it  then,  my  dear  brother,  with  a  constant  -  recollection  that 
such  is  its  character  and  aim.  Preach  it  Avith  a  perpetual  view  to  eter- 
nity, and  with  the  simplicity  and  aftection  with  which  j-ou  would 
address  your  dearest  friends,  were  they  assembled  round  your  dying 
bed.  While  others  are  ambitious  to  form  the  citizen  of  earth,  be  it 
yours  to  train  him  for  heaven ;  to  raise  up  the  temple  of  God  from 
among  the  ancient  desolations  ;  to  contribute  your  part  towards  the 
formation  "and  perfection  of  that  eternal  society  Avhich  Avill  flourish  in 
inviolable  purity  and  order,  Avhen  all  human  associations  shall  be  dis- 
solved, and  the  princes  of  this  world  shall  come  to  naught.  In  the 
pursuit  of  these  objects,  let  it  be  your  ambition  to  tread  in  the  foot- 
steps of  a  Brainerd  and  a  ScliAvartz ;  I  may  add,  of  your  excellent 
relative,  Avith  whom  Ave  are  happy  in  perceiving  you  to  possess  a  con- 
geniality of  character,  not  less  than  an  affinity  of  blood. 

But  should  you  succeed  beyond  your  utmost  hope,  expect  not  to 
escape  the  ridicule  of  the  ungodly  or  the  censure  of  the  Avorld ;  but 
be  content  to  sustain  that  sort  of  reputation,  and  run  that  sort  of 
^areer  invariably  allotted  to  the  Christian  missionary  ;  Avhere,  agreeable 
to  the  experience  of  St.  Paul,  obscurity  and  notoriety,  admiration  and 
scorn,  sorrows  and  consolations,  attachments  the  most  tender  and  oppo- 
sition the  most  violent,  are  interchangeably  mingled. 

But  wliatever  be  the  sentiments  of  the  Avorld,  respecting  Avhich  you 
will  indulge  no  excessive  solicitude,  your  name  Avill  be  precious  in 
India,  your  memory  dear  to  multitudes,  Avho  Avill  reverence  in  you  the 
instrument  of  their  eternal  salvation  ;  and  how  much  more  satisfactio 


176      ADDRESS  TO  THE  REV.  EUSTACE  CAREV 

will  accrue  iVoin  the  consciousness  of  this,  than  from  the  htudesc 
Imman  apphiuse,  your  own  reflections  will  determine.  At  that  awful 
moment  when  you  are  called  to  hid  a  final  adieu  to  the  world,  and  to 
look  into  eternity, — when  the  hopes,  fears,  and  agitations  which  sub- 
lunary objects  sliall  have  occasioned  will  subside  like  a  feverish 
dream,  or  a  vision  of  the  night,  the  certainty  of  belonging  to  the  num- 
ber of  the  saved  will  be  the  only  consolation ;  and  when  to  this  is 
joined  the  conviction  of  having  contributed  to  enlarge  that  number, 
your  joy  will  be  full.  You  will  be  conscious  of  having  conferred,  a 
benefit  on  your  fellow-creatures,  you  know  not  precisely  Avhat,  but  of 
such  a  nature  that  it  will  require  all  the  illumination  of  eternity  to 
measure  its  dimensions  and  ascertain  its  value.  Having  followed 
Christ  in  the  regeneration,  in  the  preparatory  labours  accompanying 
the  renovation  of  mankind,  you  will  rise  to  an  elevated  station  in  a 
world  where  the  scantiest  portion  is  a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory,  and  a  conspicuous  place  will  be  assigned  you  in  that 
unchanging  firm-araent  w'here  those  who  have  turned  many  to  right- 
eousness shall  shme  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever. 

But  it  is'time  I  should  close  this  address,  which  has  already  been 
extended  much  further  than  ^vas  at  first  designed.  On  the  necessity 
of  maintaining  an  exemplary  purity  of  conduct  little  or  nothing  has 
6een  said,  because  such  is  our  confidence  in  your  character  that  we 
deemed  admonition  of  this  kind  superfluous.  As  you  are,  however, 
still  in  the  body,  and  will  be  exposed  to  numerous  temptations,  you 
will  feel  the  propriety  of  being  jealous  over  yourself  Mith  a  godly 
jealousy,  and  exerting  a  continual  care  and  vigilance,  lest,  in  the  awful 
language  of  the  apostle,  after  preaching  to  others,  you  yourself  should 
he  a  castaway.  I  need  not  remind  you,  that  as  the  society  under  whose 
auspices  you  are  proceeding  to  India  have  on  no  occasion  employed 
a  missionary  in  whom  they  reposed  more  confidence,  or  of  whom  they 
formed  more  raised  expectations,  if  you  should  become  vain, 'worldly, 
sensual,  indolent,  and  consequently  useless,  ours  will  not  be  an  ordi- 
nary disappointment ;  Ave  shall  have  fallen  from  a  great  hope.  You 
will  be  sensible  of  the  indispensable  necessity  of  not  interfering  with 
the  politics  of  India,  nor  of  giving  the  smallest  ground  of  umbrage 
and  distrust  to  the  constituted  authorities,  to  whom  it  will  be  your  duty 
not  less  than  your  interest  to  pay  on  all  occasions,  in  return  for  the 
protection  they  will  yield,  the  most  respectful  deference. 

Let  me  also  recommend  you  to  listen  to  the  advice,  and  be  guided 
by  the  suggestions,  as  far  as  your  conscience  will  permit,  of  your 
fathers  in  the  mission,  and  of  Dr.  Carey  in  particular,  whose  Avisdom 
and  experience,  to  say  nothing  of  his  relationship  to  you,  entitle  him 
to  reverential  attention.  You  are  now  about  to  be  removed  from  us, 
who  it  is  probable  shall  see  your  face  no  more ;  but  you  will  not  be 
removed  from  the  communion  of  saints,  which  no  seas  can  divide,  no 
distance  impair,  in  which  we  shall  often  meet  at  a  throne  of  grace, 
whence  fervent  prayers  will  ascend  to  the  Father  of  mercies  that  he 
may  keep  you  under  his  holy  protection,  and  cause  the  richest  of  his 
blessings  to  descend  on  the  head  of  him  who  was  separate  from  h'S 
brethren. 


A    SERMON, 

OCCASIONED  BY 

THE  DEATH  OF  HER  LATE  ROYAL  HIGHNESS 

THE 

PRINCESS    CHARLOTTE    OF   WALES. 

PREACHED   AT 

HERVEY  LANE,  LEICESTER, 

November  6,  1817. 
Vol.  L— M 


A   SERMON. 


Jeremiah  xv.  9. 

She  hath  given  up  the  ghost:  her  sun  is  gone  down  ivhile  it  was  ytt  day. 

It  has  been  the  approved  practice  of  the  most  enlightened  teachers 
of  religion  to  watch  for  favourable  occasions  to  impress  the  mind  with 
the  lessons  of  wisdom  and  piety ;  with  a  view  to  which  they  have 
been  wont  to  advert  to  recent  events  of  an  interesting  order,  that,  by 
striking  in  with  a  train  of  reflection  already  commenced,  they  might  the 
more  easily  and  forcibly  insinuate  the  instruction  it  was  their  wish  to 
convey.  A  sound  discretion,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  requisite  to 
make  the  selection.  To  descend  to  the  details  and  occurrences  of 
private  life  would  seldom  consist  with  the  dignified  decorum  suited  to 
religious  assemblies  :  the  events  to  which  the  attention  is  directed  on 
such  occasions  should  be  of  a  nature  somewhat  extraordinary,  and 
calculated  to  produce  a  deep  and  permanent  impression.  Admonition, 
imparted  under  such  circumstances,  is  styled  in  Scripture  a  word  in 
season,  or,  as  it  is  emphatically  expressed  in  the  original,  a  word  on 
the  wheels,  denoting  the  peculiar  facility  with  which  it  makes  its  way 
to  the  heart. 

In  such  a  situation,  the  greatest  difficulty  a  speaker  has  to  surmount 
is  already  obviated;  attention  is  awake," an  interest  is  excited,  and  all 
that  remains  is  to  lead  the  mind,  already  sufliciently  susceptible,  to 
objects  of  permanent  utility.  He  originates  nothing ;  it  is  not  so  much 
'  he  that  speaks  as  the  events  which  speak  for  themselves ;  he  only 
presumes  to  interpret  their  language,  and  to  guide  the  confused  emo- 
tions of  a  sorrowful  and  swollen  heart  into  the  channels  of  piety 

You  are  aware,  my  brethren,  how  strongly  these  observations  apply 
to  that  most  affecting  occurrence  which  has  recently  spread  such  con- 
sternation through  this  great  empire ;  an  event  which  combines  so 
many  circumstances  adapted  to  excite  commiseration  and  concern,  that 
not  to  survey  it  with  attention,  not  to  permit  it  to  settle  on  the  heart, 
would  betray  the  utmost  insensibility. 

Devout  attention  to  the  dejilings  of  Providence  is  equally  consonant 
to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  of  Scripture.  He  who  believes  in  the 
superintendence  of  an  eternal  Mind  over  the  affairs  of  the  imiverse  is 
equally  irrational  and  indevout  in  neglecting  to  make  the  course  of 
events  the  subject  of  frequent  meditation  ;  since  the  knowledge  of  God 

M  2 


180  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

is  incomparably  more  important  than  the  most  intimate  acquamtance 
with  oxir  fellow-croatiuTS ;  and  as  the  hitter  is  chiefly  acquired  by  an 
attentive  observation  of  their  conduct,  so  must  the  former  be  obtained 
in  the  same  way.  The  operations  of  Providence  are  marked  with  a 
character  as  expressive  of  tlieir  great  Author  as  the  productions  of 
human  agency ;  and  the  same  Being  who  speaks  like  himself  in  his 
word,  acts  like  himself  in  the  moral  economy  of  the  universe 

However  inferior  in  precision  and  extent  the  knowledge  derived 
from  the  last  of  these  sources,  compared  to  the  copious  and  satisfactrsy 
information  aflbrded  by  the  Scriptures,  it  will  appear  too  important  to 
be  neglected,  when  it  is  considered  that  it  is  antecedent,  and  that  sup- 
posing it  is  not  sufficient  of  itself  to  evince  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  it 
is  impossible  for  revelation  to  supply  that  defect.  The  word  of  God 
assumes  the  certainty  of  his  being  and  attributes  as  a  truth  already 
sufficiently  ascertained  by  the  light  of  nature,  while  it  proceeds  to 
inform  us  on  a  multitude  of  subjects  Avhich  elude  the  researches  of 
finite  reason.  To  iis  who  have  access  to  both  these  sources  of  informa- 
tion they  serve  to  illustrate  each  other:  the  obscurities  of  Providence 
are  elucidated  by  Scripture ;  the  declarations  of  Scripture  are  verified 
by  Providence.  One  unfolds,  as  far  as  it  is  suitable  to  our  state,  the 
character  and  designs  of  the  mysterious  agent ;  the  other  displays  his 
works  ;  and  the  admirable  harmony  which  is  found  to  subsist  between 
them  strengthens  and  invigorates  our  confidence  in  both. 

Hence  a  disregard  to  the  operations  of  the  Dehy  in  his  provi 
dential  dispensations  is  frequently  stigmatized  in  Scripture  as  an 
unequivocal  symptom  of  impiety.  Wo  unto  them,  says  Isaiah,  that 
rise  up  early  in  the  morning  that  they  may  follow  strong  drink;  that 
continue  until  night  till  wine  injlarne  them !  and  the  harp  and  the  viol, 
the  tahret  and  pipe,  and  wine  are  in  their  feasts :  but  they  regard  ?wt 
the  work  of  the  Lord,  neither  consider  the  operation  of  his  hands. 
Therefore  my  people  are  gone  into  captivity  because  they  have  no  know- 
ledger* 

The  striking  analogy  which  the  course  of  nature  and  Providence 
bears  to  the  peculiar  discoveries  of  revelation  has  been  traced  by  an 
eminent  prelate  with  a  depth  and  precision  which  reflect  honour  on 
human  nature.f     It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  on  this  topic :  let  me 
only  be  permitted  to  remark  that  the  analogy  extends,  not  only  to  the 
discoveries  themselves,  but  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  conveyed, 
fn  both  a  constant  appeal  is  made  to  facts.     A  large  portion  of  the 
Bible  is  devoted  to  history,  where  the  grand  truths  which  are  taught 
are  intimately  incorporated  with  the  narrative,  and  mingled  with  the. 
character  and  transactions  of  living  agents ;  by  which  they  are  render- 
ed far  moi'e  impressive  than  if  they  had  remained  in  an  abstract  and 
didactic  form. 

How  languid  the  impression  produced  by  a  bare  statement  of  the 
doctrine  of  a  particular  Providence,  for  example,  compared  to  that 
which  we  derive  from  the  history  of  Abraham,  whom  we  see  conducted 

*  Isaiah,  v.  11—3.  ,         t  Bishop  Butler. 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  181 

from  kingdom  to  kingdom  by  a  divine  hand,  and  instructed  where  to 
pitch  his  tent,  and  where  to  erect  his  altars.  The  wonderful  evolu- 
tions in  the  story  of  Joseph  also  illustrate  the  conduct  of  him  whose 
ways  arc  in  tlie  deep,  and  his  paths  past  finding  out,  in  a  manner 
far  more  powerful  than  the  clearest  instruction  conveyed  in  general 
propositions. 

When  the  Almighty  was  pleased  to  introduce,  by  the  advent  of  the 
Messiah,  a  more  perfect  and  permanent  economy  of  religion,  he 
founded  it  entirely  on  facts,  attested  by  the  most  unexceptionable  evi- 
dence, and  the  most  splendid  miracles.  The  apostles  were  loitnesses, 
who  by  the  signs  and  wonders  they  wrought  made  that  appeal  to  the 
senses  of  men  which  had  been  previously  made  to  their  own  ;  and  the 
doctrines  which  they  taught  in  their  writings  were  little  more  than 
natural  consequences  resulting  from  the  undoubted  truth  of  tlieir  testi- 
mony. If  they  wish  to  inculcate  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  and 
future  judgment,  they  deem  it  sufficient  to  appeal  to  the  fact  of  Christ's 
resurrection  and  session  at  the  right  hand  of  God ;  they  present  no 
evidence  of  a  future  state  except  what  ultimately  terminates  in  the 
person  of  the  Saviour  as  the  first-begotten  from  tlie  dead ;  and  most 
anxiously  warn  us  against  resting  our  hope  of  salvation  on  any  other 
basis  than  that  of  a  sensible  sacrifice,  tJie  offering  of  the  body  of  Christ 
once  for  all.  Thus,  whatever  is  sublime  and  consolatory  in  the 
Christian  religion  originates  in  facts  and  events  which  appealed  to  the 
senses,  and  passed  in  this  visible  theatre  ;  though  their  ultimate  result 
is  commensurate  with  eternity.  In  order  to  rescue  us  from  the  idolatry 
of  the  creature  and  the  dominion  of  the  senses.  He  who  is  intirr^tely 
acquainted  with  our  frame  makes  use  of  sensible  appearances,  and 
causes  his  Son  to  become  flesh  and  to  pitch  his  tent  among  us,  that 
by  faith  in  his  crucified  humanity  we  may  ascend,  as  by  a  mystic 
ladder,  to  the  abode  of  the  Eternal. 

Providence,  it  has  already  been  remarked,  conveys  its  most  impres- 
sive lessons  in  the  same  shape ;  and  by  clothing  the  abstractions  of 
religion  in  the  realities  of  life,  renders  them  in  a  manner  palpable 
While  they  remain  in  the  form  of  general  truths,  and  are  the  objects 
of  speculation,  they  affect  us  but  little ;  they  preserve  us  from  the 
shallow  sophistry  of  impiety,  and  conduct  us  to  just  conclusions  on 
subjects  of  the  last  moment ;  but  their  control  over  the  heart  and  con- 
duct is  scarcely  felt.  In  order  to  be  deeply  impressed  we  require 
some  object  to  be  presented  more  in  unison  with  the  sensitive  part  of 
»ur  nature — something  more  precise  and  limited — something  which 
<he  mind  may  more  distinctly  realize,  and  the  imagination  more  firmly 
^rasp.  The  process  of  feeling  widely  differs  in  tliis  respect  from  that 
«f  reasoning,  and  is  regulated  by  opposite  laws.  In  reasoning  we 
fecede.as  far  as  possible  from  sensible  impressions;  and  the  more 
general  and  comprehensive  our  conclusions  and  the  larger  our  abstrac- 
tions, provided  they  are  sustained  by  sufficient  evidence,  the  more 
knowledge  is  extended  and  the  intellect  improved.  Sensibility  ia 
excited,  the  affections  are  awakened,  on  the  contrary,  on  those  occa- 
sions in  which  we  tread  back  our  steps,  and,  descending  from  gene 


182  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

ralitics,  direct  tlie  attention  to  individual  objects  and  particular  events 
We  all  acknow.cdge,  for  example,  our  constant  exposure  to  death  , 
hut  it  is  seldom  we  experience  the  practical  impression  of  that  weighty 
truth,  except  when  w  c  witness  the  stroke  of  mortality  actually  inflicted. 
We  universally  acknowledge  the  uncertainty  of  human  prospects,  and 
the  instability  of  eartiily  distinctions ;  but  it  is  when  we  behold  them 
signally  destroyed  and  confounded  that  we  feel  our  presumption 
checked,  and  our  hearts  appalled. 

For  this  reason,  He  who  spake  as  never  man  spake  Avas  wont  to  con- 
vey his  instructions  by  sensible  images  and  in  familiar  apologues,  that,  by 
concentrating  the  attention  within  the  sphere  of  particular  occurrences 
and  individual  objects,  the  impressions  of  his  lessons  might  become 
more  vivid  and  more  profound. 

It  is  thus  that  Providence  is  addressing  us  at  the  present  moment 
and  if  we  are  wise  we  shall  convert  the  melancholy  event  before  us, 
not  to  the  purposes  of  political  speculation,  fruitless  conjecture,  or 
anxious  foreboding,  but  (what  is  infinitely  better)  to  a  profound  con- 
sideration of  the  hand  of  God ;  and  then,  though  we  may  be  at  a  loss 
to  explore  the  reason  of  his  conduct,  we  shall  be  at  none  how  to 
improve  it. 

Criminal  as  it  is  always  not  to  mark  the  footsteps  of  Deity,  the 
guilt  of  such  neglect  is  greatly  aggravated  when  he  comes  forth  from 
his  place  to  execute  his  judgments,  and  display  his  wrath ;  when  he 
is  pleased,  as  at  present,  to  extinguish  in  an  instant  the  hopes  of  a 
nation,  to  clothe  the  throne  in  sackcloth,  and  involve  a  kingdom  in 
mourning.  The  greatness,  the  suddenness  of  this  calamity,  accom- 
panied with  circumstances  of  the  most  tender  and  affecting  interest, 
speaks  to  the  heart  in  accents  which  nothing  but  the  utmost  obdura- 
tion  can  resist ;  so  that  were  it  the  sole  intention  of  Him  who  has 
inflicted  it  to  awaken  the  careless  and  alarm  the  secure,  among  the 
higher  orders  especially,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  perceive  what  could  have 
been  done  more  than  has  been  accompUshed.  Whatever  imagination 
can  combine  in  an  example  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  the  frailty  of 
youth,  the  evanescence  of  beauty,  and  the  nothingness  of  worldly 
greatness,  in  its  highest  state  of  elevation,  is  exhibited  in  this  awful 
event  in  its  full  dimensions. 

The  first  particular  which  strikes  the  attention  in  this  solemn  visita 
tion  is  the  rank  of  the  illustrious  personage,  who  appears  to  have  bee., 
placed  on  the  pinnacle  of  society  for  the  express  purpose  of  rendering 
her  fall  the  more  conspicuous,  and  of  convincing  as  many  as  are  sus- 
ceptible of  conviction  that  man  at  his  best  estate  is  altogether  vanity. 
The  Deity  himself  adorned  the  victim  with  his  oaati  hands,  accumu- 
lating upon  her  all  the  decorations  and  ornaments  best  adapted  to 
render  her  the  object  of  vmiversal  admiration.  He  permitted  her  to 
touch  whatever  this  sublunary  scene  presents  that  is  most  attractive 
and  alluring,  but  to  grasp  nothing ;  and  after  conducting  her  to  an 
eminence  whence  she  could  survey  all  the  glories  of  empire  as  hef 
destined  possession,  closed  her  eyes  in  death. 

That  such  an  event  should  affect  us  in  a  manner  very  superior  to 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  183 

similar  calamities  which  occur  in  private  life  is  agreeable  to  the  order 
of  nature  and  the  will  of  God ;  nor  is  the  profound  sensation  it  has 
produced  to  be  considered  as  the  symbol  of  courtly  adulation.  The 
catastrophe  itself,  it  is  true,  apart  from  its  peculiar  circumstances,  is 
not  a  rare  occurrence.  Mothers  often  expire  in  the  ineffectual  effort 
to  give  birth  to  their  offspring ;  both  are  consigned  to  the  same  tomb, 
and  the  survivor,  after  witnessing  the  wreck  of  so  many  hopes  and 
joys,  is  left  to  mourn  alone,  refusing  to  be  comforted  because  they  are 
not.  There  is  no  sorrow  which  imagination  can  picture,  no  sign  of 
anguish  which  nature  agonized  and  oppressed  can  exhibit,  no  accent 
of  wo  but  what  is  already  familiar  to  the  ear  of  fallen,  afflicted 
humanity;  and  the  roll  which  Ezekiel  beheld  flying  through  the 
heavens,  inscribed  within  and  without  with  sorrow,  lamentation,  and 
wo,  enters  sooner  or  later  into  every  house,  and  discharges  its  contents 
in  every  bosom.  But  in  the  private  departments  of  life  the  distressing 
incidents  which  occur  are  confined  to  a  narrow  circle.  The  hope  of 
an  individual  is  crushed,  the  happiness  of  a  family  is  destroyed ;  but 
the  social  system  is  unimpaired,  and  its  movements  experience  no 
impediment  and  sustain  no  sensible  injury.  The  arrow  passes  through 
the  air,  which  soon  closes  upon  it,  and  all  is  tranquil.  But  when  the 
great  lights  and  ornaments  of  the  world,  placed  aloft  to  conduct  its 
inferior  movements,  are  extinguished,  such  an  event  resembles  the 
Apocalyptic  vial  poured  into  that  element  which  changes  its  whole 
temperature,  and  is  the  presage  of  fearful  commotions,  of  thunders, 
lightnings,  and  tempests. 

Independently  of  the  political  consequences  that,  may  result  from 
an  event  which,  by  changing  the  order  of  succession,  involves  the 
prospects  of  the  nation  in  obscurity,  we  are  formed  to  be  peculiarly 
affected  by  the  spectacle  of  prostrate  majesty  and  fallen  greatness. 
We  are  naturally  prone  to  associate  with  the  contemplation  of  exalted 
rank  the  idea  of  superior  felicity.  We  perceive  in  persons  of  that 
station  a  command  over  the  sources  of  enjoyment,  a  power  of  gratify- 
ing their  inclinations  in  a  multitude  of  forms  from  which  others  are 
precluded :  and  as  they  appear  to  possess  the  means  of  supplying 
every  want,  of  obviating  every  inconvenience,  and  of  alleviating  to  a 
considerable  extent  every  sorrow  incident  to  humanity,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  we  regard  them  as  the  darlings  of  nature  and  the 
favourites  of  fortune.  The  share  they  possess  of  the  bounties  and 
indulgences  of  Providence  is  so  much  beyond  the  ordinary  measure 
of  allotment,  and  so  large  a  portion  of  human  art  and  industry  is 
exerted  in  smoothing  their  passage  and  strewing  flowers  in  their  path, 
that  we  almost  necessarily  associate  ideas  of  superior  enjoyment 
with  a  description  of  persons  for  whose  gratification  the  inferior  classes 
seem  born  to  toil. 

We  are  so  constituted  also,  that  the  sight  of  felicity,  when  it  is  not 
mixed  with  envy,  is  always  connected  with  pleasing  emotions,  whether 
it  is  considered  as  possessed  by  ourselves  or  by  others;  not  excepting 
even  the  animal  creation.  For  who  can  behold  their  harmless  plea- 
sures, the  wild  gambols  of  their  young,  rioting  in  the  superabundance 


184  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

of  life  and  excess  of  pleasure,  without  experiencing  a  momentary  ex- 
hilaration 1  As  their  enjoyments  are  considered  too  scanty  and  limited 
to  excite  a  feeling  of  envy,  so,  from  an  opposite  cause,  the  privileges 
attached  to  an  elevated  station  seldom  produce  it.  Happily  for  man- 
kind, the  corrosions  of  that  baleful  passion  are  almost  entirely  con- 
fined to  equals,  or  to  those  between  whom  there  exists  some  preten- 
sions to  equality  ;  who,  having  started  from  nearly  the  same  level,  have 
recently  distanced  each  other  in  the  chase  of  distinction  or  of  glory. 
But  when  the  superiority  we  contemplate  has  been  long  possessed, 
when  it  is  such  as  renders  competition  hopeless  and  comparison  ab- 
surd, the  feelings  of  rivalry  are  superseded  by  an  emotion  of  respect, 
and  the  spectacle  presented  of  superior  felicity  produces  its  primary 
and  natural  effect.  We  dwell  with  complacency  on  a  system  of  arrange- 
ments so  exquisitely  adapted  apparently  to  the  production  of  happiness, 
and  yield  a  sort  of  involuntary  homage  to  the  person  in  whom  it  centres, 
without  appearing  to  disturb  our  pretensions,  or  interfere  with  our  pur- 
suits. Hence,  of  all  factitious  distinctions,  that  of  birth  is  least  ex- 
posed to  envy;  the  thought  of  aspiring  to  an  equality  in  that  respect 
being  instantly  checked  by  the  idea  of  impossibility.  When  we  turn 
our  eyes  towards  the  possessors  of  distinguished  opulence  and  power, 
so  many  glittering  appendages  crowd  on  the  imagination,  productive 
of  agreeable  emotion,  that  we  lose  sight  of  the  essential  equality  of 
the  species,  and  think  less  of  the  persons  themselves  than  of  the  arti- 
ficial splendour  which  surrounds  them. 

That  there  is  some  illusion  in  these  sentiments,  that  the  balance  m 
respect  of  real  enjoyment  is  far  from  being  so  decidedly  in  favour  of 
the  opulent  and  the  great  as  they  prompt  us  to  imagine,  is  an  indubi- 
table fact.  Nevertheless,  the  disposition  they  create  to  regard  the  ex- 
ternal appearances  of  opulence  and  power  with  respect  unmingled 
with  envy,  and  to  acquiesce  with  pleasure  in  the  visible  superiority 
they  confer,  is  productive  of  incalculable  benefit.  But  for  this,  the 
distinctions  of  rank,  and  the  privileges  and  immunities  attached  to  each, 
on  wliich  much  of  the  tranquillity  and  all  the  improvements  of  society 
depend,  would  fall  a  prey  to  an  unfeeling  rapacity ;  the  many  would 
hasten  to  seize  on  the  exclusive  advantages  of  the  few;  and  the  selfish 
passions,  uncontrolled  by  a  more  refined  order  of  feeling,  would  break 
forth  with  a  fury  that  would  quickly  overwhelm  the  mounds  and  fences 
of  legal  authority.  By  means  of  the  sentiments  to  Avhich  we  have 
adverted  society  exerts  a  sort  of  plastic  power  over  its  members, 
which  forms  their  habits  and  inclinations  to  a  cheerful  acquiescence 
in  the  allotments  of  Providence,  and  bestows  on  the  positive  institu- 
tions of  man  the  stability  of  nature. 

As  the  necessary  consequence  of  these  sentiments,  when  great  re- 
verses befall  the  higher  orders,  the  mind  experiences  a  kind  of  revul- 
sion ;  the  contrast  of  their  present  with  their  past  situation  produces 
a  deeper  sympathy  than  is  experienced  on  other  occasions.  We 
measmre  the  height  from  which  they  fell,  and  calculate  the  extent  of 
their  loss  on  a  scale  proportioned  to  the  value  we  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  attach  to  the  immunities  and  enjoyments  of  which  it  deprives 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  185 

them.  The  sight  of  slich  elaborate  preparations  for  happiness  ren- 
dered abortive,  of  a  majestic  fabric  so  proudly  seated  and  exquisitely- 
adorned  suddenly  overturned,  disturbs  the  imagination  like  a  convul- 
sion of  nature,  and  difluscs  a  feelingof  insecurity  and  terror,  as  though 
nothing  remained  on  which  we  could  repose  with  confidence.  Hence, 
the  misfortunes  of  princes  who  have  survived  their  greatness,  and  ter- 
minated a  brilliant  career  by  captivity  and  death,  have  been  selected 
by  poets  in  every  age  as  the  bases  of  those  fictions  which  are  invented 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  commiseration. 

To  guard  against  these  feelings  being  carried  to  excess,  so  as  to  m 
duce  an  oblivion  of  moral  distinction,  a  sacrifice  of  principle,  a  mean 
and  pusillanimous  prostration  before  the  profligate  and  the  vicious, — to 
urge  the  necessity  of  correcting  their  aberrations  by  the  dictates  of 
reason  and  religion,  is  foreign  to  our  purpose.  The  utility  of  a  class 
of  feelings  is  not  the  less  certain  for  their  being  liable  to  abuse.  Let 
me  rather  avail  myself  of  the  awful  dispensation  before  us,  to  suggest 
a  warning  to  the  possessors  of  these  envied  distinctions  not  to  overrate 
their  value,  nor  confide  in  their  continuance,  which  at  most  are  but  the 
flower  of  the  field,  as  much  distinguished  by  its  superior  frailty  as  by 
its  beauty.  They  belong  to  the  fashion  of  that  world  which  passeth 
away ;  they  contribute  much  to  embellish  and  beautify  this  transitory 
abode,  to  the  ornament  of  which  the  Supreme  Being  has  shown  him- 
self not  inattentive.  As  the  God  of  order,  whatever  tends  to  secure 
and  perpetuate  it  is  the  object  of  his  approbation ;  nor  can  we  doubt 
that  lie  regards  with  complacency  that  distribution  of  men  into  distinct 
orders  which  assimilates  the  social  system  to  that  variety  which  per- 
vades the  economy  of  nature. 

Let  their  possessors  remember,  however,  that  they  must  shortly  be 
divested  of  the  brilliant  appendages  and  splendid  ornaments  of  rank 
and  station,  and  enter  into  a  world  where  they  are  luiknown ;  where 
they  will  carry  notliing  but  the  essential  elements  of  their  being,  im- 
pressed with  those  indelible  characters  •which  must  sustain  the  scrutiny 
of  Omniscience.  These  artificial  decorations,  be  it  remembered,  are 
not,  properly  speaking,  their  own  ;  the  elevation  to  which  they  belong 
is  momentary ;  and  as  the  merit  of  an  actor  is  not  estimated  by  the 
part  which  he  performs,  but  solely  by  tlie  truth  and  propriety  of  his 
representation,  and  the  peasant  is  often  applauded  where  the  monarch 
is  hissed,  so  when  the  great  drama  of  life  is  concluded.  He  who  allots 
its  scenes,  and  determines  its  period,  will  take  an  account  of  his  ser- 
vants, and  assign  to  each  his  punishment  or  reward,  in  his  proper 
character.  The  existence  of  a  perfect  and  eternal  Mind  renders  such 
an  order  of  things  necessary ;  for  with  whatever  skill  society  may  be 
organized,  still  it  will  make  but  a  faint  approximation  to  our  limited 
conceptions  of  justice ;  and  since  there  is  an  original  mind  in  which 
these  ideas  subsist  in  their  utmost  perfection,  whence  the  finite  con- 
ception of  justice  is  transcribed,  they  must  at  some  period  or  other  be 
realized.  That  they  are  not  so  at  present  is  obvious.  Merit  is  often 
depressed,  vice  exalted ;  and  with  the  best  regulations  of  human  wis- 
dom, executed  with  the  utmost  impartiality,  malevolence  will  ever  be 


186  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

armed  with  tlie  power  of  inflicting  a  thousand  nameless  indignities 
and  oppressions  with  perfect  impunity.  Though  tlie  efficacy  of  human 
laws  is  far  more  conspicuous  in  restraining  and  punishing  tlian  in  rc- 
wardiuii',  in  wi\ich  their  resources  are  extremely  limited,  it  is  only  those 
flaiirant  ollcncos  that  disturb  the  public  tranquillity  to  which  they  extend ; 
while  the  silent  stream  of  misery  issuing  from  private  vice,  which  is 
incessantly  impairing  the  foundations  of  public  and  individual  happi- 
ness bv  a  secret  and  invisible  sap,  remains  unchecked.  The  grada- 
tions even  of  rank,  w'uich  are  partly  the  cause  and  partly  the  effect 
of  the  highest  social  improvements,  are  accompanied  with  so  many 
incidental  evils,  that  nothing  but  an  enlarged  contemplation  of  their 
ultmiate  tendency  and  effect  could  reconcile  us  to  the  monstrous  in- 
congruities and  deformities  they  display,  in  wealth  which  ruins  its  pos- 
sessor, titles  which  dignify  the  base,  and  influence  exerted  to  none  but 
the  most  mischievous  purposes.  The  enlightened  observer  of  human 
affairs  is  often  struck  with  horror  at  the  consequences  incidentally  re- 
sulting from  laws  and  institutions  which,  on  account  of  their  general 
utility,  command  his  unfeigned  veneration.  These  are  the  unequivo- 
cal indications  of  a  fallen  state ;  but  since  it  is  also  a  state  of  proba- 
tion, the  irregularities  by  which  it  is  distinguished,  in  the  frequent  ex- 
altation of  the  wicked  and  the  humiliation  and  depression  of  the  right- 
eous, are  such  as  furnish  the  fittest  materials  for  trial.  Wliat  state,  let 
me  ask,  is  better  calculated  than  the  present  to  put  it  to  tlie  test 
whether  we  will  suffer  ourselves  to  be  swayed  by  the  dictates  of  reason 
or  the  fascinations  of  pleasure  ;  whether  we  will  allow  the  future  to  pre- 
dominate over  the  present,  the  things  that  are  invisible  over  those  tliat  are 
seen  ;  and,  preferring  an  eternal  recompense  with  God  to  the  transitory 
objects  of  concupiscence,  submit  to  be  controlled  by  his  will,  and  led 
by  his  spirit. 

Whatever  reception  these  views  may  meet  w^ith,  one  thing  is  certain, 
that  it  is  invariably  the  most  necessary  they  should  be  inculcated 
where  they  are  the  most  unwelcome  ;  and  that  if  there  be  any  one 
description  of  persons  more  in  danger  than  another  of  being  lulled  into 
a  forgetfulness  of  future  prospects,  it  is  to  them  especially  the  warn- 
ing voice  should  be  directed,  the  eternal  world  unveiled.  And  who 
but  will  acknowledge  that  this  danger  is  especially  incident  to  such  as 
bask  in  the  smiles  of  fortune,  and,  possessing  an  unlimited  command 
over  the  sources  of  enjoyment,  are  bound  to  the  world  by  the  most 
vivid  associations  of  pleasure  and  of  hope  1  Give  me  neither  poverty 
nor  riches,  said  one  of  the  wisest  of  men,  lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee, 
and  say.  Who  is  the  Lord  ?  or,  lest  I  he  poor  and  steal,  and  take  the 
name  of  God  in  vain.  While  riches  exempt  their  possessors  from  the 
temptation  of  meaner  vices,  his  observation  taught  him  their  peculiar 
exposure  to  practical  impiety,  and  to  that  forgetfulness  of  God  which 
is  the  root  and  core  of  all  our  disorders. 

Let  them  turn  their  eyes,  then,  for  a  moment,  to  this  illustrious 
princess  ;  who,  while  she  lived,  concentred  in  herself  whatever  distin- 
guishes the  higher  orders  of  society,  and  mav  now  be  considered  as 
addressing  them  from  the  tomb. 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  137 

Born  to  inherit  the  'most  illustrious  monarchy  in  the  world,  and 
united  at  an  early  period  to  the  object  of  her  choice,  whose  virtues 
amply  justified  her  preference,  slie  enjoyed  (what  is  not  always  the 
privilege  of  that  rank)  the  highest  connubial  felicity,  and  had  the  pros- 
pect of  combining  all  the  tranquil  enjoyments  of  private  life  with  the 
splendour  of  a  royal  station.  Placed  on  the  summit  of  society,  to  her 
every  eye  Avas  turned,  in  her  every  hope  was  centred,  and  nothing  was 
wanting  to  complete  her  felicity  except  perpetuity.  To  a  grandeur  of 
mind  suited  to  her  royal  birth  and  lot'ty  destination,  she  joined  an 
exquisite  taste  for  the  beauties  of  nature  and  the  charms  of  retirement ; 
where,  far  from  the  gaze  of  the  multitude  and  the  frivolous  agitations 
of  fashionable  life,  she  employed  her  hours  in  visiting,  with  her  distin 
guished  consort,  the  cottages  of  the  poor,  in  improving  her  virtues,  in 
perfecting  her  reason,  and  acquiring  the  knowledge  best  adapted  to 
qualify  her  for  the  possession  of  power  and  the  cares  of  empire.  One 
thing  only  was  wanting  to  render  our  satisfaction  complete  in  the  pros 
pect  of  the  accession  of  such  a  princess ;  it  was,  that  she  might 
become  the  living  mother  of  children. 

The  long  wished-for  moment  at  length  arrived  :  but  alas  !  the  event 
anticipated  with  such  eagerness  will  form  the  most  melancholy  part 
of  our  history. 

It  is  no  reflection  on  this  amiable  princess  to  suppose,  that  in  her 
early  dawn,  with  the  dew  of  her  youth  so  fresh  upon  her,  she  anticipated 
a  long  series  of  years,  and  expected  to  be  led  through  successive 
scenes  of  enchantment,  rising  above  each  other  in  fascination  and 
beauty.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  she  identified  herself  with  this  grea* 
nation  which  she  was  born  to  govern  ;  and  that  while  she  contemplated 
its  pre-eminent  lustre  in  arts  and  in  arms,  its  commerce  encircling  the 
globe,  its  colonies  diffused  through  both  hemispheres,  and  the  bene- 
ficial effects  of  its  institutions  extending  to  the  whole  earth,  she 
considered  them  as  so  many  component  parts  of  her  grandeur.  Her 
heart,  we  may  well  conceive,  would  ofte'n  be  ruffled  with  emotions  of 
trembling  ecstasy  when  she  reflected  that  it  was  her  province  to  live 
.  entirely  for  others,  to  compose  the  felicity  of  a  great  people,  to  move 
in  a  sphere  which  would  afford  scope  for  the  exercise  of  philanthropy 
.the  most  enlarged,  of  wisdom  the  most  enlightened ;  and  that,  while 
others  are  doomed  to  pass  through  the  world  in  obscurity,  she  was  to 
supply  the  materials  of  history,  and  to  impart  that  impulse  to  society 
which  was  to  decide  the  destiny  of  future  generations.  Fired  with 
the  ambition  of  equalling  or  surpassing  the  most  distinguished  of  her 
predecessors,  she  probably  did  not  despair  of  reviving  the  remembrance 
of  the  brightest  parts  of  their  story,  and  of  once  more  attaching  the 
epoch  of  British  glory  to  the  annals  of  a  female  reign.  It  is  needless 
to  add  that  the  nation  went  with  her,  and  probably  outstripped  her  in 
these  delightful  anticipations.  We  fondly  hoped  that  a  life  so  inesti- 
mable would  be  protracted  to  a  distant  period,  and  that,  after  diffusing 
the  blessings  of  a  just  and  enlightened  administration,  and  being  sur- 
rounded by  a  numerous  progeny,  she  would  gradually,  in  a  good  old 
age,  sink  unde    the  horizon,  amid  the  embraces  of  her  family  and  the 


188  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

benedictions  of  her  country.  But  alas !  these  delightful  visions  are 
fled,  and  what  do  we  behold  in  their  room  but  the  funeral  pall  and 
shroud,  a  palace  in  mourning,  a  nation  in  tears,  and  tlie  shadow  of 
dcatli  settled  over  botli  like  a  cloud  !  O  the  unspeakable  vanity  of 
human  hopes  !  the  incurable  blindness  of  man  to  futurity  !  ever  doomed 
to  grasp  at  shadows,  to  seize  with  avidity  what  turns  to  dust  and  ashes 
in  his  hands,  to  sow  the  wind  and  reap  the  whirlwind. 

How  must  the  heart  of  the  royal  parent  be  torn  with  anguish  on  this 
occasion  ;  deprived  of  a  daughter  who  combined  every  quality  suited 
to  engage  his  affection  and  elevate  his  hopes ;  an  only  child,  the  heir 
of  his  throne  ;  and  doomed,  apparently,  to  behold  the  sceptre  pass  from 
his  posterity  into  other  hands  ;  his  sorrow  must  be  such  as  words  are 
inadequate  to  portray.  Nor  is  it  possible  to  withhold  our  tender  sym- 
pathy from  the  unhappy  mother,' wlio,  in  addition  to  the  wounds  she 
has  received  by  the  loss  of  her  nearest  relations,  and  by  still  more 
trying  vicissitudes,  has  witnessed  the  extinction  of  her  last  hope,  in 
the  sudden  removal  of  one  in  whose  bosom  she  might  naturally  hope 
to  repose  her  griefs,  and  find  a  peaceful  haven  from  the  storms  of  life 
and  the  tossings  of  the  ocean.  But  above  all,  the  illustrious  consort 
of  this  lamented  princess  is  entitled  to  the  deepest  commiseration. 
How  mysterious  are  the  ways  of  Providence  in  rendering  the  virtues 
of  this  distinguished  personage  the  source  of  his  greatest  trials !  By 
these  he  merited  the  distinction  to  which  monarchs  aspired  in  vain,  and 
by  these  he  exposed  himself  to  a  reverse  of  fortune,  the  severity  of 
which  can  only  be  adequately  estimated  by  this  illustrious  mourner. 
These  virtues,  however,  will  not  be  permitted  to  lose  their  reward. 
They  will  find  it  in  the  grateful  attachment  of  the  British  nation,  in  the 
remembrance  of  his  having  contributed  the  principal  share  to  the  hap- 
piness of  the  most  amiable  and  exalted  of  women ;  and,  above  all,  we 
humbly  hope,  when  the  agitations  of  time  shall  cease,  in  a  reunion 
with  the  object  of  his  attachment  before  the  presence  of  Him  who  will 
loipe  every  tear  from  the  eye. 

When  Jehovah  was  pleased  to  command  Isaiah  the  prophet  to  make 
a  public  proclamation  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  what  was  it  think  you  . 
he  was  ordered  to  announce  ?  AVas  it  some  profound  secret  of  nature 
which  had  batHed  the  inquiries  of  pliilosophers,  or  some  great  political 
convulsion  which  was  to  change  the  destiny  of  empires  ?  No :  tliese 
were  not  the  sort  of  communications  most  suited  to  the  grandeur  of  his 
nature  or  the  exigencies  of  ours.  The  voice  said,  Cry.  A?id  he  said, 
What  shall  I  cry  ?  All  flesh  is  grass,  and  all  the  goodliness  thereof 
is  as  the  Jlower  of  the  field  :  The  gi'ass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth : 
because  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it :  surely  the  people  is  grass. 
The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth  :  but  the  loord  of  our  God  shall 
stand  for  ever.''''*  Instead  of  presenting  to  our  eyes  the  mutations  of 
po>ver  and  the  revolutions  of  states  and  kingdoms,  he  exhibits  a  more 
awful  and  affecting  spectacle — the  human  race  itself  withering  under 
the  breath  of  his  mouth,  perishing  under  his  rebuke  ;  while  he  plants 

*  Isaiah  xl.  6,-8. 


PRIJNCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  ]89 

his  eternal  word,  which  subsists  from  generation  to  generation,  in 
undecayiiig  vigour,  to  console  our  wretchedness  and  impregnate  the 
dying  mass  with  the  seed  of  immortality.  As  the  frailty  of  man  and 
the  perpetuity  of  lus  promises,  are  the  greatest  contrast  the  universe 
presents,  so  the  practical  impression  of  this  truth,  however  obvious,  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom,  nor  is  there  a  degree  of  moral  elevation  to 
which  it  will  not  infallibly  conduct  us. 

The  annunciation  of  hfe  and  immortality  by  the  gospel,  did  it  contain 
QO  other  truth,  were  sufficient  to  cast  all  the  discoveries  of  science  into 
sliade,  and  to  reduce  the  highest  improvements  of  reason  to  the  com- 
parative nothingness  which  the  fligiit  of  a  moment  bears  to  eternity. 

By  this  discovery,  the  prospects  of  human  nature  are  infinitely 
widened,  the  creature  of  yesterday  becomes  the  child  of  eternity  ;  and 
as  felicity  is  not  the  less  valuable  in  the  eye  of  reason  because  it  is 
remote,  nor  the  misery  which  is  certain  less  to  be  deprecated  because 
it  is  not  immediately  felt,  the  care  of  our  future  interests  becomes  our 
chief,  and,  properly  speaking,  our  only  concern.  All  besides  will 
shortly  be  nothing ;  and  therefore,  whenever  it  comes  into  competition 
with  these,  it  is  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance. 

Is  it  now  any  subject  of  regret,  think  you,  to  this  amiable  princess, 
so  suddenly  removed,  that  her  sun  went  doicn  while  it  was  yet  day  ? — 
or  that,  prematurely  snatched  from  prospects  the  most  brilliant  and 
enchanting,  she  was  compelled  to  close  her  eyes  so  soon  on  a  world 
of  whose  grandeur  she  formed  so  conspicuous  a  part  ?  No :  other 
objects  occupy  her  mind,  other  thoughts  engage  her  attention,  and  will 
continue  to  engage  it  for  ever.  All  things  with  her  are  changed  ;  and 
viewed  from  that  pure  and  ineffable  light  for  which  we  humbly  hope 
religion  prepared  her,  the  lustre  of  a  diadem  is  scarcely  visible,  ma- 
jesty emits  a  feeble  and  sickly  ray,  and  all  ranks  and  conditions  of 
men  appear  but  so  many  troops  of  pilgrims,  in  different  garbs,  toiling 
through. the  same  vale  of  tears,  distinguished  only  by  different  degrees 
of  wretchedness. 

In  the  full  fruition  of  eternal  joys,  she  is  so  far  from  looking  back 
with  lingering  regret  on  what  she  has  quitted,  that  she  is  surprised  it 
had  the  power  of  affecting  her  so  much ;  that  she  took  so  deep  an 
interest  in  the  scenes  of  this  shadowy  state  of  being,  while  so  near  to 
an  eternal  weight  of  glory ;  and,  as  far  as  memory  may  be  supposed 
to  contribute  to  her  happiness  by  associating  the  present  with  the  past, 
it  is  not  the  recollection  of  her  illustrious  birth  and  elevated  prospects, 
but  that  she  visited  the  abodes  of  the  poor,  and  learned  to  weep  with 
those  that  weep ;  that,  surrounded  with  the  fascinations  of  pleasure, 
she  was  not  inebriated  by  its  charms  ;  that  she  resisted  the  strongest 
temptations  to  pride,  preserved  her  ears  open  to  truth,  was  impatient 
of  the  voice  of  flattery  ;  in  a  word,  that  she  sought  and  cherished  the 
inspirations  of  piety,  and  walked  humlly  with  her  God.*  This  is  fruit 
which  survives  when  the  flower  withers — the  only  ornaments  and 
treasures  we  can  cany  into  eternity. 

*  From  the  obscurity  of  tlm  author's  situation,  he  must  be  supposed  incapable  of  authenticatini; 
these  traits  in  her  character  from  his  personal  knowledge  ;  but  from  the  respectable  publications  ia 
which  they  are  related,  he  entertains  no  doubt  of  their  truth. 


190  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

While  we  look  :U  this  event  witli  the  eyes  of  flesli,  and  survey  it  in 
the  aspoft  it  hoars  towards  our  national  prospects,  it  appears  a  most 
singular  and  all'ei-ting-  catastroj)lic.  But  considered  in  itself,  or,  more 
properly,  in  its  relation  to  a  certain  though  invisible  futurity,  its  con- 
sequences are  but  commensurate  to  those  which  result  from  the 
removal  of  the  meanest  individual.  He  whose  deatii  is  as  little 
regarded  as  the  fall  of  a  leaf  in  the  forest,  and  he  whose  departure 
involves  a  nation  in  despair,  are,  in  this  view  of  the  subject  (l)y  far  the 
most  important  one),  upon  a  level.  Before  the  presence  of  the  great 
I  AM,  into  which  they  both  immediately  enter,  these  distinctions  vanish, 
and  tlie  true  statement  of  the  fact,  on  either  supposition,  is,  that  an  immor- 
tal spirit  has  finished  its  earthly  career, — has  passed  the  barriers  of  the 
invisible  world  to  appear  before  its  Maker,  in  order  to  receive  that 
sentence  which  will  fix  its  irrevocable  doom  according  to  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body.  On  either  supposition,  an  event  has  taken  place 
which  has  no  parallel  in  the  revolutions  of  time,  the  consequences  of 
which  have  not  room  to  expand  themselves  within  a  narrower  sphere 
than  an  endless  duration.  An  event  has  occurred,  the  issues  of  which 
must  ever  baffle  and  elude  all  finite  comprehensions,  by  concealing 
themselves  in  the  depths  of  that  abyss,  of  that  eternity,  which  is  the 
dwelling-place  of  Deity,  where  there  is  sufficient  space  for  the  destiny 
of  each,  among  the  innumerable  millions  of  the  human  race,  to  develop 
itself,  and  without  interference  or  confusion  to  sustain  and  carry  for- 
ward its  separate  infinity  of  interest. 

Tliat  there  is  nothing  hj^perbolic  or  extravagant  in  these  conceptions, 
but  that  they  are  the  true  sayings  of  God,  you  may  learn  from  almost 
every  page  of  the  sacred  oracles.  For  what  are  they,  in  fact,  but  a 
different  mode  of  announcing  the  doctrine  taught  us  in  the  following 
words  : — What  skull  it  projit  a  man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  loorld 
and  lose  his  own  soul ;  or  what  shall  he  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul? 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  doctrine  of  a  life  to  come  is  ascer- 
tained by  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  with  a  degree  of  evidence  so 
superior  to  that  which  attaches  to  any  other  futurity,  that  he  who 
refuses  to  believe  it  on  his  testimony  would  not  be  persuaded  although 
one  rose  from  the  dead,  the  propensity  to  disregard  it,  however  gene- 
ral, is  the  most  astonishing  phenomenon  in  nature.  Man  is  naturally 
a  prospective  creature,  endowed  not  only  with  a  capacity  of  comparing 
the  present  with  the  past,  but  also  of  anticipating  the  future,  and 
dwelling  with  anxious  rumination  on  scenes  which  are  yet  remote. 
He  is  capable  of  carrying  his  views,  of  attaching  his  anxieties  to  a 
period  much  more  distant  than  that  which  measures  the  limits  of  his 
present  existence ;  capable,  we  distinctly  perceive,  of  plunging  into 
the  depths  of  future  duration,  of  identifying  himself  with  the  sentiments 
and  opinions  of  a  distant  age,  and  of  enjoying,  by  anticipation,  the 
fame  of  which  he  is  aware  he  shall  never  be  conscious  and  the  praises 
he  shall  never  hear.  So  strongly  is  he  disposed  to  link  his  feelings 
with  futurity,  that  shadows  become  realities,  when  contemplated  as 
subsisting  there  ;  and  the  phantom  of  posthumous  celebrity,  the  faint 
image  of  liis  being  impressed  on  future  generations,  is  often  preferred 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  IQ] 

to  the  wliole  of  his  present  existence,  with  all  its  warm  and  vivid  reali- 
ties. The  complexion  of  ihe  day  that  is  passing  over  him  is  deter- 
mined hy  the  anticipations  of  the  morrow  :  the  present  borrows  its 
brightness  and  its  gloom  from  the  future,  which,  presenting  itself  to  his 
contemplation  as  in  a  mirror,  incessantly  agitates  him  with  apparitions 
of  terror  or  delight.  In  the  calculations  of  interest,  the  mind  is  allected 
in  the  same  manner ;  it  is  perpetuhy  which  stamps  its  value  on  what- 
ever we  possess,  so  that  the  lowest  epicure  would  prefer  a  small 
accession  to  his  property  to  the  most  exquisite  repast ;  and  none  are 
found  so  careless  of  futurity  as  not  to  prefer  the  inheritance  he  may 
bequeath  to  one  of  equal  value  the  title  to  which  expires  with  his  life. 

How  is  it  then  that  we  find  it  so  difficult  to  prevail  upon  men  to  fix 
their  attention  firmly  on  another  world,  that  real  future  existence  which 
reason  assures  us  is  probable,  which  revelation  teaches  us  is  certain, 
which  is  separated  from  us  by  so  narrow  a  boundary,  and  into  which 
thousands  of  our  fellow-creatures  are  passing  every  moment?  How 
is  it  that  the  professed  followers  of  Him  especially  who  descended 
from  heaven,  who  came  forth  from  the  Father  to  conduct  us  thither, 
are  so  indisposed  to  turn  their  thoughts  and  contemplations  to  that 
unchanging  state  of  being  into  which  they  are  so  shortly  to  enter?  It 
is  not,  we  perceive,  that  to  move  forward  is  not  congenial  with  our 
mental  constitution :  it  is  not  because  we  are  so  enchanted  with  the 
present  scene  as  to  be  incapable  of  diverting  our  attention  from  it ;  for 
we  are  continually  disquieted  by  a  restless  desire  of  something  future : 
it  is  not  because  we  are  seldom  warned  or  reminded  of  another  state  of 
existence  ;  for  every  funeral  bell,  every  opening  grave,  every  symptom 
of  decay  within  and  of  change  without  us  is  a  separate  warning,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  present  most  affecting  dispensation  which  has  filled 
this  nation  with  such  consternation  and  distress. 

Were  any  other  event  of  far  inferior  moment  ascertained  by  evi- 
dence which  made  but  a  distant  approach  to  that  which  attests  the 
certainty  of  a  life  to  come, — had  we  equal  assurance  that  after  a  very 
limited  though  uncertain  period  we  should  be  called  to  migrate  into  a 
distant  land  whence  we  were  never  to  return,  the  intelligence  would 
fill  every  breast  with  solicitude ;  it  would  become  the  theme  of  every 
tongue ;  and  we  should  avail  ourselves  with  the  utmost  eagerness  of 
all  the  means  of  information  respecting  the  prospects  which  awaited 
us  in  that  unknown  country.  Much  of  our  attention  would  be  occupied 
in  preparing  for  our  departure ;  we  should  cease  to  regard  the  place 
we  now  inhabit  as  our  home,  and  nothing  would  be  considered  of 
moment  but  as  it  bore  upon  our  future  destination.  How  strange  is  it 
then  that,  with  the  certainty  we  all  possess  of  shortly  entering  into 
another  world,  we  avert  our  eyes  as  much  as  possible  from  the  pros- 
pect ;  that  we  seldom  permit  it  to  penetrate  us  ;  and  that  the  moment 
the  recollection  recurs  we  hasten  to  dismiss  it  as  an  unwelcome  intru- 
sion !  Is  it  not  surprising,  that  the  volume  we  profess  to  recognise  as 
the  record  of  immortality,  and  the  sole  depository  of  whatever  infor- 
mation it  is  possible  to  obtain  respecting  the  portion  which  awaits  us, 
should  be  consigned  to  neglect,  and  rarely  if  ever  consulted  with  the 
serious  intention  of  ascertaining  our  future  condition  ? 


192  '  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

That  a  creature  fonneil  for  an  endless  duration  should  be  disposed 
to  turn  liis  attiiuion  froni  that  object,  and  to  contract  his  views  and 
prosnci-ts  williia  a  circle  ^v]lich,  compared  to  eternity,  is  but  a  mathe- 
matical point,  is  truly  astonishing ;  and  as  it  is  impossible  to  account 
for  it  from  the  natural  constitution  of  the  mind,  it  must  originate  in 
some  oroat  ?)ioral  cause.  It  shows  that  some  strange  catastrophe  has 
befallen  the  species ;  that  some  deep  and  radical  malady  is  inherent 
in  the  moral  system.  Though  pliilosophers  of  a  certain  description 
mav  attempt  to  explain  and  justify  it  on  some  ingenious  hypothesis, 
yet',  in  spite  of  metaphysical  subtleties,  the  alarming  inquiry  will  still 
return — iiow  is  it  that  the  disposition  of  mankind  is  so  much  at  vari- 
ance with  their  prospects? — that  no  train  of  reflections  is  more  unwel- 
come than  that  which  is  connected  with  their  eternal  home  1  If  the 
change  is  considered  as  a  happy  one, — if  the  final  abode  to  which  we 
are  hastening  is  supposed  to  be  an  improvement  on  the  present,  why 
shrink,  back  from  it  with  aversion  ?  If  it  is  contemplated  as  a  state  of 
suffering,  it  is  natural  to  inquire  what  it  is  that  has  invested  it  with  so 
dark  and  sombre  a  character.  What  is  it  which  has  enveloped  that 
species  of  futurities  in  a  gloom  which  pervades  no  other  1  If  the  indis- 
position lo  realize  a  life  to  come  arises  in  any  measure  from  a  vague 
presentiment  that  it  will  bring  us,  so  to  speak,  into  a  closer  contact 
with  the  Deity,  by  presenting  clearer  manifestations  of  his  character 
and  perfections,  (and  who  can  doubt  that  this  is  a  principal  cause  ?) 
the  proof  it  affords  of  a  great  deterioration  in  our  moral  condition  is 
complete.  For  who  will  suppose  it  possible  a  disposition  to  hide  him- 
self from  his  Creator  should  be  an  original  part  of  the  constitution  of 
a  reasonable  creature  ? — or  what  more  portentous  and  unnatural,  than 
for  him  that  is  formed  to  shun  the  presence  of  his  Maker,  and  to  place 
his  felicity  in  the  forgetfulness  of  Him  in  whom  he  lives,  and  moves,  and 
has  his  being?  If  he  is  pained  and  disquieted  whenever  he  is  forcibly 
reminded  of  Him  whose  power  sustains  and  whose  bounty  replenishes 
the  universe  with  whatever  is  good  and  fair ;  if  the  source  of  being 
and  of  happiness  is  the  object  of  terror  instead  of  confidence  and  love, 
it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  what  can  afford  a  stronger  conviction  of 
guilt,  or  a  more  certain  presage  of  danger. 

The  conclusion  to  which  we  are  conducted  is  confirmed  by  inspira 
tion,  which  assures  us  that  a  great  revolution  has  actually  befallen  the 
species  ;  and  that,  in  consequence  of  the  entrance  of  sin  into  the  world, 
we  have  incurred  the  forfeiture  of  the  divine  favour,  and  the  loss  of 
the  divine  image.  In  this  situation  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  that 
the  economy  adapted  to  our  relief  must  include  two  things,  the  means 
of  expiating  guilt,  and  the  means  of  moral  renovation :  in  other  w-ords, 
an  atoning  sacrifice  and  a  sanctifying  Spirit.  Both  these  objects  are 
accomplished  in  the  advent  of  the  Saviour,  who,  by  presenting  himself 
as  a  sin-oftering,  has  made  ample  satisfaction  to  ofl'ended  justice,  and 
purchased  by  his  merits  the  renovating  Spirit  which  is  freely  offered 
lo  as  many  as  sincerely  seek  it.  By  the  former,  the  obstructions  to 
our  happiness  arising  from  the  divine  nature  are  removed  ;  by  the 
latter,  the  disqualification  sprmging  from  our  own.     By  providing  a 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE   DF  WALES.  193 

sacrifice  of  infinite  value  in  the  person  of  the  Only-begotten,  he  has 
consulted  his  majesty  as  the  righteous  Governor  of  the  world,  and  has 
reconciled  the  seemingly  incompatible  claims  of  justice  and  of  mercy. 
By  bestowing  the  Spirit  as  the  fruit  of  his  mediation  and  intercession 
whose  soTil  was  made  an  offering  for  sin,  pollution  is  purged,  and  that 
image  of  God  restored  to  sinful  creatures  which  capacitates  them  for 
the  enjoyment  of  pure  and  perfect  felicity.  Thus  every  requisite 
which  we  can  conceive  necessary  in  a  restorative  dispensation  is  found 
in  the  gospel,  exhibited  with  a  perspicuity  level  to  the  meanest  capa- 
city, combined  with  such  a  depth  in  the  contrivance,  and  such  an 
exquisite  adaptation  to  our  state  and  condition,  as  surpasses  finite 
comprehension.  This  is  the  substance  of  those  glad  tidings  which 
constitute  \he  gospel ;  to  the  cordial  reception  of  which  must  all  the 
diflerenee  be  ascribed  which  will  shortly  be  found  between  the  con- 
dition of  the  saved  and  the  lost. 

Be  assured,  my  Christian  brethren,  it  is  by  a  profound  submission 
of  the  soul  to  this  doctrine,  offensive  as  it  may  be  to  the  pride  of  human 
virtue,  repugnant  as  it  undoubtedly  is  to  the  dictates  of  philosophy, 
falsely  so  called,  that  we  must  acquaint  ourselves  with  God,  and  be  at 
peace.  When  we  mention  peace,  however,  we  mean  not  the  stupid 
security  of  a  mind  that  refuses  to  reflect,  we  mean  a  tranquillity  which 
rests  upon  an  unshaken  basis,  which  no  anticipations,  however  remote, 
no  power  of  reflection,  however  piercing  or  profound,  no  evolutions 
which  time  may  disclose  or  eternity  conceal,  are  capable  of  impairing ; 
a  peace  which  is  founded  on  the  oath  and  promise  of  Him  who  cannot 
lie ;  which,  springing  from  the  consciousness  of  an  inefl"able  alliance 
with  the  Father  of  spirits,  makes  us  to  share  in  his  fulness,  to  become 
a  partner  with  him  in  his  eternity ;  a  repose,  pure  and  serene  as  the 
unruftied  wave,  which  reflects  the  heavens  from  its  bosom,  while  it  is 
accompanied  with  a  feeling  of  exultation  and  triumph,  natural  to  such 
as  are  qonscious  that  ere  long,  having  overcome,  they  shall  possess 
all  things. 

While  the  prize  is  so  transcendently  great,  no  unparalleled  efforts, 
no  incredible  exertions  are  requisite  to  obtain  it ;  it  is  placed  within 
the  grasp  of  every  hand.  If  the  great  sacrifice  had  not  been  pre- 
sented, if  the  succours  of  heaven  had  not  been  offered,  if  the  glad 
tidings  had  not  been  proclaimed,  nor  life  and  immortality  brought  to 
light,  our  condition  would  indeed  have  been  deplorable  ;  and  little 
encouragement  should  we  have  had  to  engage  in  the  great  Mork  of 
seeking  salvation.  But  now  all  things  are  ready,  and  the  chief,  or 
rather  the  only  prerequisite  is  a  child-like  docility,  a  disposition  to 
derive  wisdom  from  the  fountain  of  light,  strength  from  the  strong, 
together  with  a  fixed  and  immoveable  conviction  tliat  the  care  of  our 
eternal  interests  is  the  grand  concern. 

Some  events  by  the  established  course  of  nature  are  rendered  so 
certain,  that,  however  important  in  their  consequences,  they  are  not 
the  proper  subjects  of  deliberation.  Their  certainty,  assumed  as  a 
basis  in  all  our  calculations  and  reasonings,  is  entitled  to  great  weight 
in  adjusting  the  plan  of  future  operation  ;  but  it  is  with  a  view  to  other 

Vol.  I.— N 


194  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

objects  th:it  our  schemes  are  formed  and  our  anxiety  exerted.  Other 
events  are  preol tided  from  deliberation  by  an  opposite  reason,  the  per 
feet  conviction  tliat  they  will  never  arrive.  Both  these  are  regarded 
by  wise  men  as  fixed,  immoveable  points,  which  supply  motives  foi 
submission,  but  no  incentives  to  exertion. 

There  is  another  class  of  futurities  whose  existence  is  not  ascer- 
tained by  immutable,  independent  causes  ;  they  arc  placed  in  some 
measure  within  our  reach,  are  subjected  in  a  degree  to  our  control, 
and  are  neither  so  certain  as  to  produce  security,  nor  so  impossible  oi 
improbable  as  to  occasion  despair.  These  form  the  motives  to  hmnan 
activity,  and  the  objects  of  rational  pursuit ;  in  the  proper  selection  of 
which,  and  the  application  of  means  best  adapted  to  their  attainment, 
consists  the  whole  wisdom  of  man.  The  hopes  and  fears  associated 
with  the  contemplation  of  events  of  this  nature  are  the  springs  which 
set  mankind  in  motion ;  and  while  the  frivolous  and  the  dissipated  fix 
their  attention  on  such  as  are  productive  of  transient  and  momentary 
impressions,  the  wise  in  their  generation  select  those  which  are  the 
basis  of  permanent  interests,  such  as  wealth,  power,  and  reputation ; 
which,  whoever  acquires  by  a  course  of  strenuous  exertion,  is  ap- 
plauded and  extolled  as  a  pattern  for  universal  imitation.  Yet,  what 
extreme  short-sightedness  characterizes  the  most  prosperous  votary 
of  the  world,  compared  to  the  humblest  candidate  for  immortality ! 
This  their  xm.y  is  their  folly,  though  their  posterity  approve  their  say- 
ings. Of  the  great  prizes  in  human  life,  it  is  not  often  the  lot  of  the 
most  enterprising  to  obtain  many :  they  are  placed  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  path,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  approach  one  of  them  without 
proportionably  receding  from  another  ;  whence  it  results  that  the  wisest 
plans  are  founded  on  a  compromise  between  good  and  evil,  where 
much  that  is  the  object  of  desire  is  finally  relinquished  and  abandoned 
in  order  to  secure  superior  advantages.  The  candidate  for  immor- 
tality is  reduced  to  no  such  alternative :  the  possession  of  his  object 
comprehends  .ill :  it  combines  in  itself,  without  imperfection  and  with- 
out alloy,  all  the  scattered  portions  of  good  for  which  the  votaries  of 
the  world  are  accustomed  to  contend.  Such  also  is  our  constitution, 
and  so  little  is  the  sublunary  state  adapted  to  be  our  rest,  that  we  are 
usually  more  alive  to  the  good  we  want  than  co  that  which  we  pos- 
sess ;  that,  rendered  delicate  by  indulgence  rather  than  satiated  by 
enjoyment,  the  slightest  check  in  the  career  of  our  desires  inflicts  a 
wound  which  their  gratification  in  every  other  particular  is  incapable 
of  healing.  Thus  the  wretched  Haman,  in  the  highest  plenitude  of 
affluence  and  power,  exclaimed.  All  this  availeth  me  nothing,  ichile 
Mordecai  sits  in  the  gate.  Such  is  the  capricious  fastidiousness  of 
the  human  heart,  chiefly  in  those  who  are  most  pampered  with  the 
gifts  of  fortune,  that  the  person  whom  nothing  has  the  power  of  grati- 
fying long  the  merest  trifle  is  sufficient  io  displease,  and  that  he  is 
often  extremely  chagrined  and  disquieted  by  the  absence  of  that  whose 
presence  would  scarcely  be  felt.  The  fruition  of  religious  objects 
calms  and  purifies  as  much  as  it  delights  ;  it  strengthens  instead  of 
enervatuig  the  mind,  w^hich  it  fills  without  agitating,  and,  by  settling  it 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  195 

on  its  proper  basis,  diffuses  an  unspeakable  repose  tl.  rough  all  its 
powers. 

As  the  connexion  between  means  and  ends  is  not  so  indissolubly 
fixed  as  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  disappointment,  and  the  battle  is 
not  always  to  the  strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift,  nor  riches  to  men  of 
understanding,  the  votary  of  the  world  is  never  secure  of  his  object, 
which  frequently  mocks  his  pursuit,  by  vanishing  at  the  moment  when 
he  is  just  on  the  point  of  seizing  it.  He  often  possesses  not  even  the 
privilege  of  failing  with  impunity,  and  has  no  medium  left  between 
complete  success  and  infallible  destruction.  In  the  struggles  of  ambi 
tion,  in  violent  competitions  for  power  or  for  glory,  how  slender  the 
partition  between  the  widest  extremes  of  fortune,  and  how  few  the 
steps  and  apparently  slight  the  circumstances  which  sever  the  throne 
from  the  prison,  the  palace  from  the  tomb  ?  So  Tibni  died,  says  the 
sacred  historian,  with  inimitable  simplicity,  and  Omri  reigned.  He 
who  makes  the  care  of  his  eternal  interests  his  chief  pursuit  is  ex- 
posed to  no  such  perils  and  vicissitudes.  His  hopes  will  be  infallibly 
crowned  with  success.  The  soil  on  which  he  bestows  his  labour  will 
infinitely  more  than  recompense  his  care  ;  and  however  disproportioned 
the  extent  and  duration  of  his  efforts  to  the  magnitude  of  their  object, 
however  insufficient  to  secure  it  by  their  intrinsic  vigour,  the  faithful- 
ness of  God  is  pledged  to  bring  them  to  a  prosperous  issue.  Ask, 
said  our  Lord,  a)id  ye  shall  receive ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock, 
and  it  shall  he  opened  unto  you.  For  whosoever  asketh  receiveth ;  and 
whosoever  seeketh  fndeth ;  and  whosoever  knocketh,  to  him  it  shall  he 
opened.  The  pursuit  of  salvation  is  the  only  enterprise  in  which  nc 
one  fails  from  weakness,  none  from  an  invincible  ignorance  of  futurity 
none  from  the  sudden  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  against  which  there  exists 
no  effectual  security,  none  from  tliose  occasional  eclipses  of  knowledge 
and  fits  of  inadvertence  to  which  the  most  acute  and  wakeful  intellect 
is  exposed.  How  suitable  is  it  to  the  character  of  the  Being  who 
reveals  himself  by  the  name  of  Love,  to  render  the  object  which  is 
alone  worthy  of  being  aspired  to  with  ardour  the  only  one  to  which 
all  may,  without  presumption,  aspire ;  and  while  he  conceals  thrones 
and  sceptres  in  the  shadow  of  his  hand,  and  bestows  them  where  he 
pleases,  with  a  mysterious  and  uncontrollable  sovereignty,  on  opening 
the  springs  of  eternal  felicity,  to  proclaim  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the 
earth.  Let  him  that  is  athirst  come  :  and  whomsoever  will,  let  hitn  partake 
of  the  water  of  life  freely. 

But  the  impotence  of  the  world  never  appears  more  conspicuous 
than  when  it  has  exhausted  its  powers  m  the  gratification  of  its  vota- 
ries, by  placing  them  in  a  situation  which  leaves  them  nothing  further 
to  hope.  It  frustrates  the  sanguine  expectations  of  its  admirers,  as 
much  by  what  it  bestows  as  by  what  it  withholds,  and  reserves  its 
severest  disappointment  for  the  season  of  possession.  The  agitation, 
the  uncertainty,  the  varied  emotions  of  hope  and  fear  which  accompany 
the  pursuit  of  worldly  objects,  create  a  powerful  interest,  and  maintain 
a  brisk  and  wholesome  circulation  ;  but  when  the  pursuit  is  over,  unless 
some  oilier  is  substituted  in  its  place,  satiety  succeeds  to  enjoyment, 

N2 


196  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

and  pleasure  cease  to  please.  Tired  of  treading  the  same  circle,  of 
beholding  the  same  spectacles,  of  frequenting  the  same  amusement? 
and  repeating  the  same  follies,  with  nothing  to  awaken  sensibility,  or 
to  stimulate  to  action,  the  minion  of  fortune  is  exposed  to  an  insuper 
able  languor ;  he  sinks  under  an  insupportable  weight  of  ease,  and 
falls  a  victim  to  incurable  dejection  and  despondency.  Religion,  by 
presenting  objects  ever  interesting  and  ever  new,  by  bestowing  much, 
by  promising  more,  and  dilating  the  heart  with  the  expectation  of  a 
certum  indefinite  good,  clearly  ascertained  though  indistinctly  seen, 
the  pledge  and  earnest  of  which  is  far  more  delightful  than  all  that 
irreligious  men  possess,  is  the  only  eflectual  antidote  to  this  evil.  He 
that  drinketh  of  this  water  shall  never  thirst.  The  vanity  which  ad- 
heres to  the  world  in  every  form,  when  its  pleasures  and  occupations  are 
regarded  as  ultimate  objects,  is  at  once  corrected  when  they  are  viewed 
m  connexion  with  a  boundless  futurity ;  and  whatever  may  be  their 
intrinsic  value,  they  rise  into  dignity  and  importance  when  considered 
as  the  seed  of  a  future  harvest,  as  the  path  which,  however  obscure, 
leads  to  honour  and  immortality,  as  the  province  of  labour  allotted  us, 
in  order  to  v:ork  out  our  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  Nothing 
is  little  which  is  related  to  such  a  system ;  nothing  vain  or  frivolous 
which  has  the  remotest  influence  on  such  prospects.  Considered  as 
a  state  of  probation,  our  present  condition  loses  all  its  inherent  mean- 
ness ;  it  derives  a  moral  grandeur  even  from  the  shortness  of  its 
duration,  when  view-ed  as  a  contest  for  an  immortal  crown,  in  which 
the  candidates  are  exhibited  on  a  theatre,  a  spectacle  to  beings  of  the 
highest  order,  who,  conscious  of  the  tremendous  importance  of  the 
issue,  of  the  magnitude  of  the  interest  at  stake,  survey  the  combatants 
from  on  high  with  benevolent  and  trembling  solicitude. 

Finally,  we  are  made  for  the  enjoyment  of  eternal  blessedness ;  it 
is  our  high  calling  and  destination ;  and  not  to  pursue  it  with  diligence 
is  to  be  guilty  of  the  blackest  ingratitude  to  the  Author  of  our  being, 
as  well  as  the  greatest  cruelty  to  ourselves.  To  fail  of  such  an  object, 
to  defeat  the  end  of  our  existence,  and  in  consequence  of  neglecting 
the  great  salvation,  to  sink  at  last  under  the  frown  of  the  Almighty, 
is  a  calamity  which  words  were  not  invented  to  express,  nor  finite  minds 
formed  to  grasp.  Eternity,  it  is  surely  not  necessary  to  remind  you, 
invests  every  state,  whether  of  bliss  or  of  suffering,  with  a  mysterious 
and  awful  importance,  entirely  its  own,  and  is  the  only  property  in  the 
creation  which  gives  that  weight  and  moment  to  whatever  it  attaches, 
eompared  to  which  all  sublunary  joys  and  sorrows,  all  interests  which 
know  a  period,  fade  into  the  most  contemptible  insignificance.  In 
appreciating  every  other  object,  it  is  easy  to  exceed  the  proper 
estimate ;  and  even  of  the  distressing  event  which  has  so  recently 
occurred,  the  feeling  which  many  of  us  possess  is  probably  adequate 
to  the  occasion.  The  nation  has  certainly  not  been  w-anting  in  the 
proper  expression  of  its  poignant  regret  at  the  sudden  removal  of  this 
most  lamented  princess,  nor  of  their  sympathy  with  the  royal  family, 
deprived  by  this  visitation  of  its  brightest  ornament.  Sorrow  is  painted 
"a  every  countenance,  the  pursuits  of  business  and  of  pk  isure  have 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES  I97 

been  suspended,  and  the-kingdom  is  covered  with  the  signals  of  distress. 
But  what,  my  brethren,  if  it  be  lawful  to  indulge  such  a  thought,  what 
would  be  the  funeral  obsequies  of  a  lost  soul  1  Where  shall  we  find 
the  tears  fit  to  be  wept  at  such  a  spectacle  1  or,  could  we  realize  the 
calamity  in  all  its  extent,  what  tokens  of  commiseration  and  concern 
would  be  deemed  equal  to  the  occasion  ?  Would  it  suffice  for  the  sun 
to  veil  his  light  and  the  moon  her  brightness ;  to  cover  the  ocean  with 
mourning,  and  the  heavens  with  sackcloth  1  or,  were  the  whole  fabric 
of  nature  to  become  animated  and  vocal,  would  it  be  possible  for  her 
to  utter  a  groan  too  deep,  or  a  cry  too  piercing,  to  express  the  magnitude 
and  extent  of  such  a  catastrophe  1 

But  it  is  time  to  draw  the  veil  over  this  heart-withering  prospec* 
remembering  only  what  manne?'  of  persons  we  ought  to  be,  who  are 
walking  gn  the  brink  of  such  an  eternhy,  and  possess  no  assurance 
but  that  the  next  moment  will  convey  us  to  the  regions  of  happiness 
or  of  despair.  Impressed  habitually  with  this  solemn  recollection,  we 
shall  rejoice  as  those  who  rejoice  not,  we  shall  weep  as  those  who  weep 
not,  we  shall  use  the  world  as  not  abusing  it,  remembering  that  the  end 
of  all  things  is  at  hand. 

It  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  so  remarkable  an  example  of  the 
•frailty  and  uncertainty  of  life  as  the  recent  providence  has  displayed, 
has  failed  of  impressing  serious  reflection  on  the  minds  of  multi- 
tudes :  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  that  degree  of  insensibility  which 
could  totally  resist  such  a  warning.  But  there  is  reason  to  fear  that 
in  a  great  majority  of  instances  it  has  produced  no  salutary  fruit,  and 
will  leave  them,  after  a  very  short  period,  as  careless  and  unconcerned 
about  a  preparation  for  a  hereafter  as  before ;  like  the  unthinking 
feathered  tribe,  who,  when  one  of  the  number  falls  by  the  hand  of  the 
fowler,  are  scared  for  a  moment  and  fly  from  the  fatal  spot  with  screams 
of  horror ;  but  quickly  recovering  their  confldence  alight  again  on  the 
same  place,  and  expose  themselves  to  the  same  danger.  Thus  many, 
whose  gayety  has  been  eclipsed,  and  whose  thoughtless  career  of 
irreligion  and  dissipation  has  experienced  a  momentary  check,  will 
doubtless  soon  return  with  eager  impetuosity  to  the  same  course,  as 
the  horse  rusheth  into  the  battle.  The  same  amusements  will  enchant, 
the  same  society  corrupt,  and  the  same  temptations  ensnare  them ; 
with  this  very  important  difference,  that  the  effort  necessary  to  sur- 
mount the  present  impression  will  superinduce  a  fresh  degree  of  obdu- 
ration,  by  which  they  will  become  more  completely  accoutred  in  the 
panoply  of  darkness.  The  next  visitation,  though  it  may  be  in  some 
respects  more  aff'ecting,  because  more  near,  will  probably  impress 
them  less  ;  and  as  death  has  penetrated  the  palace  in  vain,  though  it 
should  even  come  up  into  their  chamber  and  take  away  the  delight  of 
their  eyes  at  a  stroke,  they  will  be  less  religiously  moved. 

What  may  we  suppose  is  the  reason  of  this  ;  why  arc  so  many  im- 
pressed and  so  few  profited  ?  It  is  unquestionably  because  they  are 
not  obedient  to  the  first  suggestion  of  conscience.  What  that  sugges- 
tion is  it  may  not  be  easy  precisely  to  determine ;  but  it  certainly  is 
not  to  make  /haste  to  efface  the  impression  by  fnvolous  amusement,  by 


gg  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

gay  society,  by  ciitortaining  reading,  or  even  by  secular  employment. 
it  is  probably  to  meditalc  and  pray.  Let  the  first  whisper,  be  it  what 
it  may,  of  the  internal  monitor  be  listened  to  as  an  oracle,  as  the  still 
small  voice  whicli  Elijah  heard  when  he  wrapped  his  face  in  his  man- 
tle, recognising  it  to  be  the  voice  of  God.  Be  assured  it  will  not  mis- 
lead you  ;  it  will  conduct  you  one  step  at  least  towards  happiness  and 
truth ;  and  by  a  prompt  and  punctual  compliance  with  it,  you  will  be 
prepared  to  receive  ampler  communications  and  superior  light.  If, 
after  a  serious  retrospect  of  your  past  lives,  of  the  objects  you  have 
pursued,  and  the  principles  which  have  determined  your  conduct,  they 
appear  to  be  such  as  will  ill  sustain  the  scrutiny  of  a  dying  hour,  dare 
to  be  faithful  to  yourselves,  and  shun  with  horror  that  cruel  treachery 
to  your  best  interests,  which  would  impel  you  to  sacrifice  the  happi- 
ness of  eternity  to  the  quiet  of  a  moment.  Let  the  light  of  truth,  which 
is  the  light  of  heaven,  however  painful  for  the  present,  be  admitted  in 
its  full  force  ;  and  whatever  secrets  it  may  discover  in  the  chambers 
of  tinagcnj,  while  it  unveils  still  greater  and  greater  abominations, 
shrink  not  from  the  view,  but  entreat  rather  the  assistance  of  Him 
whose  prerogative  it  is  to  search  the  heart  and  to  try  the  reins,  to 
render  the  investigation  more  profound  and  impartial.  The  sight  of 
a  penitent  on  his  knees  is  a  spectacle  which  moves  heaven ;  and  the 
compassionate  Redeemer,  who,  when  he  beheld  Saul  in  that  situation, 
exclaimed,  Behold,  hepraycth,  will  not  be  slow  or  reluctant  to  strengthen 
you  by  his  might,  and  console  you  by  his  Spirit.  When  a  new  and 
living  way  is  opened  into  the  holiest  of  all,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  not 
to  avail  ourselves  of  it,  not  to  arise  and  go  to  our  Father,  hut  to  prefer 
remaining  at  a  guilty  distance,  encompassed  with  famine,  to  the  rich 
and  everlasting  provisions  of  his  house,  will  be  a  source  of  insupport- 
able anguish  Mhen  we  shall  see  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  ourselves  shut  out.  You  are  probably  not 
aware  of  what  importance  it  is  to  improve  these  sacred  visitations ; 
have  not  considered  that  they  form  a  crisis  which,  if  often  neglected, 
will  never  return.  It  is  impossible  too  often  to  inculcate  the  momentous 
truth,  that  the  character  is  not  formed  by  passive  impressions,  but  by 
voluntary  actions,  and  that  we  shall  be  judged  hereafter,  not  by  what 
we  have  felt,  but  by  what  we  have  done. 

You  will  perceive,  my  l)rethren,  that  I  have  confined  my  attention, 
in  this  discourse,  to  such  reflections  as  we  would  wish  every  individual 
to  indulge  in  the  contemplation  of  this  great  national  calamity,  without 
adverting  to  its  aspect  on  the  political  prospects  and  interests  of  the 
country.  The  discussion  of  the  subject  in  that  view  of  it  is  equally 
unsuited  to  my  province  and  to  my  talents.  I  leave  it  to  politicians  to 
investigate  the  effects  it  is  likely  to  produce  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
British  empire ;  esteeming  myself  sufficiently  happy  if  I  may  be  the 
humble  instrument  of  fixing  your  attention  on  subjects  best  fitted  to 
prepare  you  for  a  kingdom  ichich  cannot  be  moved ;  being  convinced, 
as  you  may  infer  from  my  constant  practice,  that  this  is  neither  the 
place  nor  the  season  for  political  discussion,  and  that  the  teachers  itf 
religion  are  called  to  a  nobler  occupation  than  to  subserve  the  intei* 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  199 

ests  of  party,  or  fan  the  "flames  of  public  dissension.  In  perfect  con- 
sistence with  this  observation  permit  me  to  remark,  that  it  appears  to 
me  highly  presumptuous  to  attempt  to  scan  the  secret  purpose  of  the 
Deity,  in  this  dispensation,  by  assigning  it  to  specific  moral  causes. 
His  ways  are  in  the  great  deep,  and  his  paths  past  finding  out.  That 
it  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  signal  rebuke  and  chastisement,  designed 
to  bring  our  sins  to  remembrance,  there  is  no  doubt ;  but  to  attempt 
to  specify  the  particular  crimes  and  delinquencies  which  have  drawn 
down  this  visitation  is  inconsistent  with  the  modesty  which  ought  to 
ac(.ompany  all  inquiries  into  the  mysteries  of  Providence ;  and  espe- 
cially repugnant  to  the  spirit  which  this  most  solemn  and  afl'ecting 
event  should  inspire.  At  a  time  when  every  creature  ought  to  tremble 
under  the  judgments  of  God,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  indulge  in  reciprocal 
recrimination ;  and  when  the  whole  head  is  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  is 
faint,  it  is  not  for  the  members  to  usurp  the  seat  of  judgment  by 
hurling  mutual  accusations  and  reproaches  against  each  other.  Are 
there  not  sufficient  provocations  to  be  found  in  all  ranks  and  classes, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  to  justify  and  account  for  these  and 
still  greater  severities  ? — or  is  it  necessary  to  look  farther  for  the  vin- 
dication of  the  equity  of  the  divine  proceeding  than  to  the  open  impiety 
and  profaneness,  the  perjury  and  injustice,  the  profanation  of  the  Sab- 
bath and  conrempt  of  sacred  things,  the  profligacy  of  the  lower  and 
the  irreligion  and  impurity  of  the  higher  orders,  which,  notwithstanding 
the  multitude  of  splendid  exceptions,  still  form  the  national  character  ? 
Tliat  we  are  a  people  severely  scourged  and  corrected,  none  will 
deny  ;  but  that  we  have  turned  to  him  that  s?niteth  us,  it  would  be 
presumption  to  assert.  Yet  if  any  people  were  ever  more  forcibly 
reminded  of  the  interposition  of  Providence  than  another,  it  is  certain 
we  are  that  people  ;  having  been  conducted  through  the  most  intricate 
and  mysterious  paths,  in  such  a  manner  as  totally  to  confound  the  wis- 
dom of.  the  wise  and  the  understanding  of  the  prudent,  both  in  our 
adverse  and  prosperous  fortunes.  Preserved  amid  the  wreck  of  nations 
and  the  hurricane  of  revolution,  which  swept  for  twenty  years  over  the 
face  of  Europe  with  ruin  and  desolation  in  its  train,  we  have  not  only 
been  permitted  to  maintain  our  soil  unviolated  and  our  independence 
unimpaired,  but  have  come  forth  from  a  contest  of  unparalleled  diffi- 
culty and  extent  with  a  more  splendid  reputation  and  in  a  more  com- 
manding attitude  than  we  possessed  at  any  former  period.  Our 
successes,  both  by  sea  and  land,  have  been  so  brilliant  and  decisive  that 
it  is  not  easy  to  determine  whether  we  have  acquired  most  glory  as  a 
military  or  a  maritime  power ;  while  our  achievements  on  each  ele- 
ment have  been  such  as  to  distance  all  competition.  A  profound  peace 
has  at  length  succeeded  to  a  scene  of  hostilities  which,  for  the  fourth 
part  of  a  century,  covered  the  earth  with  armies,  shook  every  kingdom 
to  its  basis,  and  ravaged  and  depopulated  the  fairest  portion  of  the 
globe.  But  what  has  been  the  issue  ?  We  have  retired  from  the 
combat,  successful  indeed  beyond  our  most  sangu'ne  expectations, — 
but  bleeding,  breathless  exhausted  ;  with  symptoms  of  internal  weak- 
ness and  decay,  from  which,  if  we  ever  entirely  recover,  it  must  bp 


200  FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  THE 

when  the  present  generation  has  disappeared  from  the  eartli.  Wlien 
was  it  ever  known  before  tliat  peace  was  more  destructive  tlian  wart 
— tliat  a  people  were  more  impoverished  by  their  victories  than  tlieir 
defeats  ?  and  tliat  tlie  epoch  of  their  glory  was  the  epoch  of  their  suf- 
ferings ?  Peace,  instead  of  being  the  nurse  of  industry  and  the  harbin- 
ger of  plenty,  as  the  experience  of  ages  had  taught  us  to  expect,  has 
brought  poverty,  discontent,  and  distress  in  her  train  ;  inflicting  all  the 
privations  of  a  state  of  hostility  without  its  hopes,  and  all  the  miseries 
of  war  without  its  splendour.  What  but  an  Omnipotent  hand  could 
have  infused  such  venom  into  the  greatest  of  blessings  as  utterly  to 
transform  its  nature,  and  cause  it  to  produce  some  of  the  worst  effects 
of  a  curse  ? 

While  we  were  engaged  in  the  fearful  struggle  which  has  at  length 
been  so  successfully  terminated,  it  pleased  the  great  Ruler  of  nations 
to  visit  our  aged,  beloved,  and  revered  monarch  with  one  of  the  most 
dreadful  calamities  incident  to  human  nature,  the  pressure  of  which 
still  continues,  we  fear,  with  unabated  severity.  While  we  are  deeply 
moved  at  the  awful  spectacle  of  majesty  labouring  under  a  permanent 
and  hopeless  eclipse,  we  are  consoled  with  the  reflection  that  he  walked 
in  the  light  while  he  possessed  the  liglit ;  that  as  long  as  the  exercise  of 
reason  was  continued,  he  communed  with  eternal  truth  ;  and  that  from 
the  shades  which  now  envelop  him  he  will,  at  no  very  distant  period, 
emerge  into  the  brightness  of  celestial  vision. 

Though  it  may  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  series  of  events  more 
likely  to  awe  the  mind  to  a  sense  of  the  power  and  presence  of  the 
Deity  than  those  we  have  witnessed,  he  has  thought  fit  to  address  us 
once  more,  if  not  in  louder,  yet  in  more  solemn  and  affecting  accents. 
An  unexampled  depopulation  of  the  species  by  the  sword  had  indeed 
nearly  rendered  death  the  most  familiar  of  all  spectacles,  and  left  few 
families  unbereaved  ;  but  neither  the  narrative  of  battles  nor  the  sight 
of  carnage  are  best  suited  to  inculcate  the  lessons  of  mortality ;  nor 
are  the  moral  features  of  that  last  enemy  ever  less  distinctly  discerned 
than  in  the  moments  when  he  Is  most  busy,  or  on  those  fields  of 
slaughter  where  he  appears  the  principal  agent.  The  "pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war,"  the  tumultuous  emotions  of  the  combatants,  and 
the  eager  anxiety  of  the  contending  parties,  attentive  to  the  important 
political  consequences  attached  to  victory  and  defeat,  absorb  every 
other  impression  and  obstruct  the  entrance  of  serious  and  pensive 
reflection. 

How  different  the  example  of  mortality  presented  on  the  present 
occasion  1  Without  the  slightest  warning,  without  the  opportunity  of 
a  moment's  immediate  preparation,  in  the  midst  of  the  deepest  tran- 
quillity, at  midnight,  a  voice  was  heard  in  the  palace,  not  of  singing 
men  and  singing  women,  not  of  revelry  and  mirth,  but  the  cry,  Behold, 
the  Bridegroom  cometh.  The  mother,  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  spared 
just  long  enough  to  hear  the  tidings  of  her  infant's  death,  almost  im- 
mediately, as  if  summoned  by  his  spirit,  follows  him  into  eternity. 
*'  It  is  a  night  much  to  be  remembered."  Who  foretold  tUs  event, 
who  conjectured  it,  who  detected  at  a  distance  the  faintest  presage  of 


PRINCESS  CHARLOTTE  OF  WALES.  201 

us  approach,  which,  when  it  arrived,  mocked  the  efforts  of  human  skill, 
as  much  by  their  incapacity  to  prevent,  as  their  inability  to  foresee  it? 
Unmoved  by  the  tears  of  conjugal  affection,  unawed  by  the  presence 
of  grandeur  and  the  prerogatives  of  power,  inexorable  Death  hastened 
to  execute  his  stern  commission,  leaving  nothing  to  royalty  itself  biii, 
to  retire  and  weep.  Who  can  fail  to  discern,  on  this  awful  occasion, 
the  hand  of  Him  who  bringcth  jmnces  to  nothing,  who  maketh  the  judges 
of  the  earth  as  vanity ;  who  says,  they  shall  not  he  planted ;  yea,  they 
shall  not  he  sown ;  yea,  their  stock  shall  not  take  root  in  the  earth ;  and 
he  shall  hloio  upon  thcin,  and  they  shall  wither,  and  the  whirlwind  shall 
take  them  away  as  stuhble  ? 

It  is  better,  says  Solomon,  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning,  than  to 
the  house  of  feasting,  for  that  is  the  end  of  all  men,  and  the  living  wil' 
lay  it  to  heart.  While  there  are  few  who  arc  not,  at  some  season  o. 
other,'  conducted  to  that  house,  a  nation  enters  it  on  the  present  visita- 
tion, there  to  learn,  in  the  sudden  extinction  of  the  heiress  of  her 
monarchy,  the  vanity  of  all  but  what  relates  to  eternity  and  the  abso- 
lute necessity  of  havmg  our  loins  girt,  our  lamps  burning,  and  ourselvet 
as  those  who  are  looking  for  the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom. 

We  presume  there  are  none  who  can  survey  this  signal  interposition 
of  Providence  with  indifference,  or  refrain  from  "  laying  it  to  heart." 
No,  illustrious  princess,  it  will  be  long  ere  the  name  of  Charlotte 
A-Ugusta  is  mentioned  by  Britons  without  tears  ;  I'emote  posterity  also, 
A^hich  shall  peruse  thy  melancholy  story,  will  "  lay  it  to  heart,"  and 
vill  be  tempted  to  ask,  why  no  milder  expedient  could  suffice  to  cor- 
rect our  levity,  and  make  us  mindful  of  our  latter  end  ;  while  they  look 
back  with  tender  pity  on  the  amiable  victim,  who  seems  to  have  been 
destined  by  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  Providence  to  warn  and  edify 
that  people  by  her  death  which  she  was  not  permitted,  to  the  extent 
of  her  ambition,  to  benefit  by  her  life. 

Should  her  lamented  and  untimely  end  be  the  means  of  giving  that 
religious  impulse  to  the  public  mind  wliich  shall  turi  us  to  righteous 
ness,  the  benefits  she  will  have  conferred  upon  her  country  in  both 
worlds  will  more  than  equal  ih^  p\(^..m  of  the  most  prosperous  and 
extended  reign. 


A  SERMON, 

OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 

REV.  JOHN  RYLAND,  D.D. 

PREACHED    AT 

THE  BAPTIST  MEETING,  BROADMEAD,  BRISTOL, 
June  5,  1625. 


A  SERMON. 


John  xxL  7. 

That  disciple  tvliom  Jesus  loved. 

It  has  been  alleged  by  unbelievers  as  a  defect  in  the  morality  of 
the  gospel  that  it  neglects  to  inculcate  patriotism  and  friendship.  In 
regard  to  the  first  of  these,  it  seems  a  sufficient  reply  that  though  an 
attachment  to  our  country  as  such  is  not  expressly  enjoined  in  the 
New  Testament,  the  duties  which  result  from  the  relation  in  which 
Christians  stand  to  their  rulers  are  prescribed  with  great  perspicuity, 
and  enforced  by  very  solemn  sanctions ;  and  if  the  reciprocal  duties 
of  princes  and  magistrates  are  not  enjoined  with  equal  explicitness  (as 
could  not  be  expected  in  writings  where  they  are  not  addressed)  the 
design  of  their  appointment  is  defined  in  such  a  manner  as  leaves  them 
at  no  loss  to  perceive  what  it  is  that  they  owe  to  the  community. 
But  where  these  duties  are  faithfully  discharged  by  each  party,  the 
benefits  .derived  from  the  social  compact  are  so  justly  appreciated  and 
so  deeply  felt,  that  the  love  of  country  is  less  liable  to  defect  than  to 
excess.  In  all  well-ordered  polities,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  expe- 
rience of  past  ages,  the  attachment  of  men  to  their  country  is  in  danger 
of  becoming  an  absorbing  principle,  inducing  not  merely  a  forgetful- 
ness  of  private  interest,  but  of  the  immutable  claims  of  humanity  and 
justice.  In  the  most  virtuous  times  of  the  Roman  republic  their 
country  was  the  idol,  at  whose  shrine  her  greatest  patriots  were  at  all 
times  prepared  to  offer  whole  hecatombs  of  human  victims  :  the 
interests  of  other  nations  were  no  further  regarded  than  as  they  could 
be  rendered  subservient  to  the  gratification  of  her  ambition  ;  and  man- 
kind at  large  were  considered  as  possessing  no  rights  but  such  as 
might  with  the  utmost  propriety  be  merged  in  that  devouring  vortex. 
With  all  their  talents  and  their  grandeur  they  were  unprincipled 
oppressors,  leagued  in  a  determined  conspiracy  against  the  liberty  and 
independence  of  mankind.  In  the  eyes  of  an  enlightened  philanthro- 
pist, patriotism,  pampered  to  such  an  excess,  loses  the  name  of  virtue  ; 
it  is  the  bond  and  cement  of  a  guilty  confederation.  It  was  worthy 
of  the  wisdom  of  our  great  legislator  to  decline  the  express  inculca- 


206  FUNERAL  SERMON 

tion  of  a  principle  so  liable  to  degenerate  into  excess,  and  to  content 
himself  with  prescribing  the  virtues  which  are  sure  to  develope  it  as 
far  as  is  consistent  with  the  dictates  of  universal  benevolence. 

The  second  part  of  the  objection  to  which  we  have  alluded  is  sus- 
ceptible of  a  similar  answ^er.  Let  it  be  admitted  that  our  Lord  did 
not  formally  prescribe  the  cultivation  of  friendship ;  and  what  then  ? 
He  prescribed  the  virtues  out  of  which  it  will  naturally  grow  ;  he  pre- 
set ibed  the  cultivation  of  benevolence  in  all  its  diversified  modes  of 
operation.  In  his  personal  ministry,  and  in  that  of  his  apostles,  he 
enjoined  humility,  forbearance,  gentleness,  kindness,  and  the  most 
tender  sympathy  with  the  infirmities  and  distresses  of  our  fellow-crea- 
tures ;  and  his  whole  life  was  a  perfect  transcript  of  these  virtues. 
But  these  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  and  under  the  usual  arrange- 
ments of  Providence,  are  the  best  preparation  for  friendship  as  well  as 
the  surest  guarantee  for  the  discharge  of  its  duties,  and  the  observation 
of  its  rights.  For  such  is  the  secret  affinity  of  mind  to  mind,  such  the 
social  constitution  of  man,  that  he  who  is  imbued  with  these  dispositions 
can  scarcely  fail,  in  the  pilgrimage  of  life,  to  contract  a  friendship  with 
one  or  more  of  his  species.  Accustomed  to  look  upon  the  whole 
human  family  Avith  a  benign  aspect,  some  members  of  it  will  attract 
more  of  his  attention  and  awaken  more  of  his  complacency  than 
others ;  Avhere  their  virtues  are  equal,  some  more  than  ordinary  con- 
geniality of  taste  and  temper  will  form  a  basis  of  preference,  a  motive 
for  predilection,  which,  confirmed  by  habit  and  strengthened  by  the 
reciprocal  exchange  of  gratifying  attentions  and  kind  offices  will  at 
length  ripen  into  friendship.  A  mind  habitually  tender  easily  melts 
into  softness,  and  exchanges  the  sentiments  of  esteem  for  those  of 
speci^c  attachment  and  endearment.  Wliat  is  friendship  in  virtuous 
minds  but  the  concentration  of  benevolent  emotions  heightened  by 
respect  and  increased  by  exercise  on  one  or  more  objects  ?  Friend- 
ship is  not  a  state  of  feeling,  whose  elements  are  specifically  different 
from  those  which  compose  every  other.  The  emotions  we  feel  towards 
a  friend  are  the  same  in  khid  with  those  we  experience  on  other  occa- 
sions ;  but  they  are  more  complex  and  more  exalted.  It  is  the  general 
sensibility  to  kind  arKl  social  affections,  more  immediately  directed  to 
one  or  more  individuals,  and  in  consequence  of  its  particular  direction 
giving  birth  to  an  order  of  feeling  more  vivid  and  intense  than  usual, 
which  constitutes  friendship.  Hence  we  perceive  the  impropriety  of 
making  it  the  subject  of  legislation.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to 
cultivate  the  dispositions  which  lead  to  friendship,  the  love  of  his 
species,  admiration  of  virtue,  regard  to  the  feelings  of  others,  gratitude, 
humility,  along  Avith  the  most  inflexible  adherence  to  probity  and 
truth.  Wherever  these  exist,  friendship  will  be  the  natural  result ; 
but  it  will  result  as  a  felicity  rather  than  as  a  duty ;  and  is  to  be 
placed  among  the  rewards  of  virtue  rather  than  its  obligations.  Hap- 
piness is  not  to  be  prescribed,  but  to  be  enjoyed ;  and  such  is  the 
benevolent  arrangement  of  Divine  Providence,  that  wherever  there  is 
a  moral  preparation  for  it,  it  follows  of  course  ;  and  such  are  the  plea- 
sures and  advantages  derived  from  virtuous  friendship.     Its  duties. 


•*  FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  207 

supposing  it  to  be  formed,  are  deducible,  with  sufficient  certainty  anfs 
precision,  from  the  Hght  of  nature  and  the  precepts  of  Scripture,  and 
none  more  sacred ;  but  in  the  act  of  forming  it  the  mind  disdains  the 
fetters  of  prescriptions,  and  is  left  to  be  determined  by  the  impulse  of 
feehng,  and  the  operation  of  events. 

Besides,  were  friendship  inculcated  as  a  matter  of  indispensable 
obligation,  endless  embarrassments  would  arise  in  determining  at 
what  period  the  relation  shall  commence  ;  whether  with  one  or  with 
more  ;  and  at  what  stage  in  the  progress  of  mutual  attraction,  at  what 
point  the  feelings  of  reciprocal  regard  shall  be  deemed  to  reach  the 
maturity  which  entitles  them  to  the  sacred  name  of  friendship.  The 
laws  of  virtue  and  piety  are  coeval  with  our  existence,  considered  as 
reasonable  and  accountable  creatures.  Their  authority  is  founded  on 
immutable  relations,  the  duties  resulting  from  which  are  capable  of 
being  clearly  conceived  and  exactly  defined  ;  but  he  who  should  under- 
take to  prescribe  to  the  subtle  and  mysterious  irnpulses  which  invite 
susceptible  minds  to  friendship,  would  find  himself  engaged  in  an 
attempt  as  hopeless  as  to  regulate  the  motions  of  the  air  which  bloiveth 
where  it  listeth. 

But  though  the  cultivation  of  friendship,  for  the  reasons  already 
assigned,  is  not  made  the  subject  of  precept,  but  is  left  to  grow  up  of 
itself  under  the  general  culture  of  reason  and  religion,  it  is  one  of  the 
fairest  productions  of  the  human  soil,  the  cordial  of  life,  the  lenitive 
of  our  sorrows,  and  the  multiplier  of  our  joys ;  the  source  equally  of 
animation  and  of  repose.  He  who  is  destitute  of  this  blessing,  amid 
the  greatest  crowd  and  pressure  of  society,  is  doomed  to  solitude  ;  and 
however  surrounded  with  flatterers  and  admirers,  however  armed  with 
power  and  rich  in  the  endowments  of  nature  and  of  fortune,  has  no 
resting-place.  The  most  elevated  station  in  life  affords  no  exemption 
from  those  agitations  and  disquietudes  which  can  only  be  laid  to  rest 
on  the  bosom  of  a  friend. 

The  sympathies  even  of  virtuous  minds,  when  not  warmed  by  the 
breath  of  friendship,  are  too  faint  and  cold  to  satisfy  the  social  cravings 
of  our  nature ;  their  compassion  is  too  much  dissipated  by  the  multi- 
plicity of  its  objects  and  the  varieties  of  distress  to  suffer  it  to  flow 
long  in  one  channel ;  while  the  sentiments  of  congratulation  are  stUl 
more  slight  and  superficial.  A  transient  tear  of  pity,  or  a  smile  of 
complacency  equally  transient,  is  all  we  can  usually  bestow  on  the 
scenes  of  happiness  or  of  misery  which  we  meet  with  in  the  paths  of 
life.  But  man  naturally  seeks  for  a  closer  union,  a  more  permanent 
conjunction  of  interests,  a  more  intense  reciprocation  of  feeling ;  he 
finds  the  want  of  one  or  more  with  whom  he  can  trust  the  secrets  of 
his  heart,  and  relieve  himself  by  imparting  the  interior  joys  and  sorrows 
with  which  every  human  breast  is  fraught.  He  seeks,  in  short, 
another  self,  a  kindred  spirit  whose  interest  in  his  welfare  bears  some 
proportion  to  his  own,  with  whom  he  may  lessen  his  cares  by  sympathy 
and  multiply  his  pleasures  by  participation. 

The  satisfaction  derived  from  surveying  the  most  beautiful  scenes 
of  nature  or  the  most  exquisite  productions  of  art  is  so  far  from  being 


208  FUNERAL  SERMON 

complete,  that  it  almost  turns  into  uneasiness  when  there  is  none 
with  whom  we  can  share  it ;  nor  M'ould  the  most  passionate  admire. 
of  eloquence  or  poetry  consent  to  witness  their  most  stupendous  cxer 
tions  upon  the  simple  condition  of  not  being  permitted  to  reveal  hv 
emotions.  So  essential  an  ingredient  in  felicity  is  friendship  apar 
from  the  more  solid  and  permanent  advantages  it  procures,  and  wliei 
viewed  in  no  other  light  than  as  the  organ  of  communication,  th 
channel  of  feeling  and  of  thought.  But  if  joy  itself  is  a  burden  which 
the  heart  can  ill  sustain  without  inviting  others  to  partake  of  it,  how 
much  more  the  corrosions  of  anxiety,  the  perturbations  of  fear,  and  the 
dejection  arising  from  sudden  and  overwhelming  calamity? 

But  it  is  not  merely  as  a  source  of  pleasure  or  as  a  relief  from  pair 
that  virtuous  friendship  is  to  be  coveted;  it  is  at  least  as  much  recoin 
mended  by  its  utility.  He  who  has  made  the  acquisition  of  a  judicious 
and  sympathizing  friend  may  be  said  to  have  doubled  his  menta 
resources :  by  associating  an  equal,  perhaps  a  superior  mind  with  his 
own,  he  has  provided  the  means  of  strengtheninr  hi?  reason,  of  perfect 
ing  his  counsels,  of  discerning  and  correcting  his  errors.  Ke  can 
have  recourse  at  all  times  to  the  judgment  and  assistance  of  one  who 
with  the  same  power  of  discernment  with  himself,  comes  to  the  decision 
of  a  question  with  a  mind  neither  harassed  with  the  pe-rplexilies  noi 
heated  with  the  passions  which  so  frequently  obscure  the  perception 
of  our  true  interests.  Next  to  the  immediate  guidance  of  God  by  his 
Spirit,  the  counsel  and  encouragement  of  virtuous  and  enlightened 
friends  afford  the  most  powerful  aid  in  the  encounter  of  temptation  and 
in  the  career  of  duty. 

Wisdom,  indeed,  is  not  confined  to  any  limited  circle,  much  less  to 
the  very  narrow  one  of  private  friendship ;  and  sound  advice  may 
often  be  procured  from  those  with  whom  we  have  contracted  no  ties 
of  intimacy.  But  the  patient  attention  required  to  comprehend  and 
encounter  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  case  ;  the  persevering  ardour,  the 
persuasive  sympathy  necessary  to  invest  it  with  authority  and  to  render 
it  effectual,  will  be  wanting ;  in  the  absence  of  which  the  wisest 
counsel  is  a  wintry  and  sickly  beam,  which  plays  on  the  surface  only : 
it  may  enlighten,  but  will  seldom  penetrate  or  melt.  The  conscious- 
ness, too,  of  possessing  a  share  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  persons 
of  distinguished  worth  is  a  powerful  support  to  every  virtuous  resolu- 
tion ;  it  sheds  a  warm  and  cheerful  light  over  the  paths  of  life  ;  fortiftes 
the  breast  against  unmanly  dejection  and  pusillanimous  fears  ;  while 
the  apprehension  of  forfeiting  these  advantages  presents  a  strong 
resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  temptation.  There  are  higher  con- 
siderations, it  is  true,  which  ought  invariably  to  produce  the  same 
effect ;  but  we  have  no  such  superfluity  of  strength  as  should  induce 
us  to  decline  the  aid  of  inferior  motives,  when  all  are  but  barely  ade- 
quate to  the  exigencies  of  our  state.  The  recollection  that  we  are 
acting  under  the  eye  of  Omniscience  will  lose  nothing  of  its  force  by 
being  jomed  to  the  remembrance,  that  our  conduct  is  subject  to  the 
scrutiny  of  friends  whose  sentiments  are  in  unison,  whose  influence 
coincides  with  the  voice  of  conscience  and  of  God.     And  surely  ii 


FOR  UR.  RYLAND.  20& 

>ust  be  no  contemptible  .aid  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  which  he 
derives  who  has  invited  the  benevolent  inspection  of  his  actions,  the 
honest  reprehension  of  his  errors,  and  the  warm  encouragement  of  his 
virtues  ;  who,  accustomed  to  lay  open  the  interior  of  his  cliaracter  and 
the  most  retired  secrets  of  his  heart,  finds  in  the  appprobation  of  his 
friend  the  suffrage  of  his  conscience  reflected  and  confirmed ;  who 
delighted,  but  not  elated,  by  the  esteem  he  has  secured  and  the  confi- 
dence he  has  won,  advances  with  renovated  vigour  in  the  paths  that 
lead  to  glory,  honour,  and  immortality.  The  pleasures  resulting  from 
the  mutual  attachment  of  kindred  spirits  are  by  no  means  confined  to 
the  moments  of  personal  intercourse  ;  they  diffuse  their  odours,  though 
faintly,  through  the  seasons  of  absence ;  refreshing  and  exhilarating 
the  mind  by  the  remembrance  of  the  past  and  the  anticipation  of  the 
future.  It  is  a  treasure  possessed  when  it  is  not  employed  ;  a  reserve 
of  strength,  ready  to  be  called  into  action  when  most  needed ;  a  foun- 
tain of  sweets,  to  which  we  may  continually  repair,  whose  waters  are 
inexhaustible. 

Friendship  founded  on  the  principles  of  worldly  morality,  recognised 
by  virtuous  heathens,  such  as  that  which  subsisted  between  Atticus 
and  Cicero,  which  the  last  of  these  illustrious  men  has  rendered  im- 
mortal, is  fitted  to  survive  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  life ;  but  it 
belongs  only  to  a  union  founded  on  religion,  to  continue  through  an 
endless  duration.  The  former  of  these  stood  the  shock  of  conflicting 
opinions,  and  of  a  revolution  that  shook  the  world ;  the  latter  is  des- 
tined to  survive  when  the  heavens  are  no  more,  and  to  spring  fresh 
from  the  ashes  of  the  universe.  The  former  possessed  all  the  stability 
which  it  is  possible  to  sublunary  things ;  the  latter  partakes  of  the 
eternity  of  God.  Friendship  founded  on  worldly  principles  is  natural, 
and  though  composed  of  the  best  elements  of  nature  is  not  exempt 
from  its  mutability  and  frailty ;  the  latter  is  spiritual,  and  therefore 
unchanging  asid  imperishable.  The  friendship  which  is  founded  on 
kindred  tastes  and  congenial  habits,  apart  from  piety,  is  permitted  by 
the  benignity  of  Providence  to  embellish  a  world  which,  with  all  its 
magnificence  and  beauty,  will  shortly  pass  away ;  that  which  has  re- 
ligion for  its  basis  will  ere  long  be  transplanted  in  order  to  adorn  the 
paradise  of  God. 

But  it  is  time  to  turn  our  attention  to  the  passage  selected  for  our 
•^-resent  meditations  :  that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved:  This  is  not  the 
only  instance  in  which  the  writer  of  this  history  designates  himself 
under  that  character ;  whence  we  may  with  certainty  infer,  that  the 
preference  shown  him  by  our  Lord  above  the  other  apostles  was  so 
notorious,  that  the  mention  of  it,  even  by  the  person  on  whom  it  was 
bestowed,  could  occasion  no  offence.  He  had  recourse  to  it,  without 
doubt,  from  a  dictate  of  modesty,  that  he  might  avoid  the  disagreeable 
necessity  of  often  speaking  of  himself  under  his  proper  name.  It  is 
natural  to  feel  some  curiosity  respecting  ihe  character  of  one  who  was 
the  object  of  so  distinguished  a  preference.  Are  we  to  impute  it  to  a 
decided  superiority  in  intellectual  and  moral  attainments  ?  Perhaps 
not.     The  consideration  of  moral  worth  will  always  enter  deeply  int« 

Vol.  L— O 


210  FUNERAL  SERMON 

the  nioiivos  which  actuate  wise  and  good  men  in  their  choice  of  friends 
but  it  is  far  from  constituting  the  only  one.'  A  certain  congeniality  of 
mind  and  manners,  aided  by  the  operation  of  adventitious  circumstances, 
contributes  a  principal  share  towards  the  formation  of  such  unions  ; 
nor  is  it  presumption  to  conjecture  that,  in  the  instance  before  us,  there 
was  something  in  the  taste  and  disposition  of  our  Lord,  considered  as 
a  man,  more  in  unison  with  those  of  John  than  with  any  of  the  other 
ipostles.  As  every  character  has  its  peculiar  mould,  by  which  it  is  more 
or  less  distinguished,  we  may  be  allowed  to  suppose,  that  in  addition 
to  the  possession  of  unrivalled  excellence  in  general,  that  of  our  Lord 
was  marked  by  certain  discriminating  features.  The  virtues  of  Elijah, 
which  reappeared  in  John  the  Baptist,  stern,  awful,  and  majestic,  fitted 
to  alarm  a  slumbering  world  by  a  denunciation  of  the  wrath  to  come  ; — 
how  different  the  aspect  they  Avear  from  those  of  the  man  of  sorrows, 
who  wept  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus  !  We  foUow^  the  footsteps  of  this 
greatest  of  prophets  with  a  reverence  bordering  upon  terror ;  while 
we  behold  in  the  character  of  our  Lord,  though  transcendently  supe- 
rior, such  a  meek  and  softened  majesty  that  we  are  not  surprised  that 
he  who  knew  him  best  delighted  to  designate  him  under  the  appella- 
tion of  the  Lamb.  The  distinguishing  features  of  our  Lord's  character, 
viewed  as  a  perfect  human  being,  were,  unquestionably,  humility  and 
love ;  nor  is  it  less  certain,  or  less  obvious,  ihat  these  were  the  quali- 
ties most  conspicuous  in  the  character  of  the  beloved  disciple. 

This  apostle  presents  a  striking  contrast  to  a  certain  class  of  wri- 
ters, who,  by  no  means  deficient  in  talent,  but  possessing  little  sensi- 
bility, afford  the  reader  little  or  no  insight  into  their  character.  Their 
conceptions  and  their  language  are  cast  into  a  certain  artificial  mould, 
which  leaves  scarcely  any  traces  of  individuality.  The  writings  of 
John  are  of  the  most  contrary  description  ;  they  are  replete  wath  traits 
of  character ;  the  writer  presents  his  heart  in  almost  every  page.  A 
tender  sensibility  pervades  his  gospel,  sufficient  to  distinguish  it  from 
either  of  the  preceding ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  believe  that  the  narrative 
of  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  or  of  the  last  scenes  of  our  Saviour's 
life,  were  composed  without  tears.  Such  strokes  of  pathos,  such 
touching  simplicity,  such  minuteness  of  detail,  Avithout  puerility  or 
redundance,  characterize  the  history  of  these  extraordinary  events,  as 
ccmld  only  have  proceeded  from  one  Avho  felt  himself  a  party  con- 
cerned ;  who,  with  a  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  his  subject,  wrote 
still  more  from  his  heart  than  from  his  head.  He  is  little  to  be  envied 
who  can  peruse  these  inimitable  narratives  without  being  moved :  the 
author  places  us  in  the  very  midst  of  the  scenes  he  describes ;  we 
listen  to  the  discourses,  we  imbibe  the  sentiments  of  the  principal . 
actors  ;  and  while  he  says  nothing  of  himself,  he  lays  open  the  whole 
interior  of  his  character.  We  feel  ourselves  introduced,  not  so  much 
to  the  acquaintance  of  an  inspired  apostle  as  to  that  of  the  most  amia- 
ble of  men. 

The  selection  of  his  materials  is  such  as  it  were  natural  to  expect 
from  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved ;  for,  w'hile  the  other  evangelists 
direct  their  ctuef  attention  to  the  miracles  of  our  I/ord,  John  relates 


I  on  I)'     RYLAND.  2,| 

his  sentiments  and  discourses.  The  preceding  evangelists  content 
themselves,  for  the  most  part,  with  exhibiting  his  human  liistory,  in 
the  record  of  tliose  facts  which  established  the  truth  of  his  doctrine 
and  the  divinity  of  his  mission  ;  John  commences  from  an  earlier  date, 
draws  back  the  veil  of  eternity,  and  shows  us  the  subject  of  his  his- 
tory subsisting  before  all  worlds,  presiding  in  the  work  of  creation  and 
providence. 

It  is  from  this  apostle  we  learn  most  fully  the  state  of  the  contro- 
versy between  our  Lord  and  the  unbelieving  Jews  ;  in  the  course  of 
which  we  have  continual  occasion  to  admire  the  quickness  and  dex- 
terity, the  subtlety  and  profundity  displayed  in  various  discourses, 
which,  but  for  him,  would  have  been  lost  in  oblivion.  He  expatiates 
with  peculiar  interest  on  the  last  interview  between  Christ  and  his 
disciples ;  where  he  assures  them  of  his  unalterable  attachment,  and 
exerts  -himself  to  console  their  grief,  to  reanimate  their  confidence,  and 
dispel  their  fears,  by  the  prospect  of  seeing  them  again,  when  their 
joy  should  be  such  as  no  man  should  take  from  them.  He  either  en- 
tirely omits,  or  passes  rapidly  over  the  transactions  recorded  by  the 
other  evangelists  ;  but  when  he  approaches  the  scene  of  the  crucifixion, 
he  lingers  and  dwells  upon  the  circumstances  of  that  awful  tragedy 
with  a  minuteness  and  particularity  of  detail,  as  though  it  had  never 
been  recorded  before. 

In  the  short  epistles  inscribed  with  his  name,  the  topic  on  which  he 
chiefly  insists  is  love,  which,  in  its  sublimer  form,  constitutes  the 
moral  essence  of  the  Deity,  as  well  as  the  very  sum  and  substance  of 
true  religion.  His  heart  was  in  perfect  unison  with  his  subject. 
Written,  as  is  supposed,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  the  spirit  they  breathe 
is  that  of  a  father  inculcating  on  his  children  the  cultivation  of  every 
virtue,  and  especially  of  mutual  affection,  Avith  that  neglect  of  order 
and  arrangement,  and  those  reiterations  and  overflowings  of  tender 
importunity  which  are  suited  to  such  a  character.  Instead  of  assuming 
an  air  of  superiority,  in  his  first  epistle  he  suppresses  his  name  ;  and 
in  the  two  last  takes  to  himself  a  title'  common  to  every  Christian 
pastor.  He  is  not  satisfied  with  styling  his  converts  children, — he 
styles  them  little  children  : — Little  children,  keep  yourselves  from  idols ; 
which  reminds  me  of  a  beautiful  anecdote  related  by  Eusebius,  that 
when  he  was  too  much  oppressed  with  infirmity  to  permit  him  to  exer- 
cise his  public  ministry  any  longer,  he  was  accustomed  to  be  carried 
into  the  church  ;  and  after  stretching  forth  his  tieble  arms,  and  crying, 
Little  children,  love  one  another,  to  retire  from  the  assembly.  So 
deeply  was  he  imbued  with  the  seraphic  love  of  the  bosom  on  which 
he  leaned,  that  it  remained  unimpaired  amid  the  decays  of  nature  and 
the  eclipse  of  intellect. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  life,  if  we  may  judge  from  a  single  incident, 
from  his  proposing  to  call  down  fire  from  heaven  to  avenge  the  insult 
offered  to  our  Lord,  he  possessed  an  impetuous  and  eager  spirit,  not 
always  restrained  by  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above ;  but  in  maturer 
years  it  appears  to  have  subsided,  and  given  place  to  none  but  benign 
afteotions.     His  meekness  and  tenderness,  however,  were  never  in- 

C)  2 


212  FUNERAL  SERMOIS 

dulged  at  the  expense  of  truth,  his  adherence  to  which  was  inviolable ; 
nor  did  lie  fail  to  express  the  utmost  abhorrence  at  any  attempt  to  cor- 
rupt it ;  insoimich  that  I  can  easily  believe  an  anecdote  related  by 
Eiisebius,  that  on  his  entering  a  public  bath,  and*  finding  the  notorious 
heresiarch  Cerinthus  there,  he  left  it  with  precipitation,  exclaiming, 
"  Let  us  flee  from  this  place,  lest  it  fall  and  crush  that  enemy  of  God  !" 
His  benevolence  spent  itself,  not  in  a  hollow  and  unmeaning  complai- 
sance to  the  impugners  of  the  gospel,  but  in  eflbrts  to  convert  them ; 
and  just  in  proportion  as  he  loved  his  fellow-creatures,  was  his  anxiety' • 
to  preserve,  unimpaired  and  unmixed,  the  doctrine  by  which  they  were 
to  be  saved. 

But  enough  has  been  said  on  the  character  of  tliis  eminent  apostle 
Before  we  dismiss  this  branch  of  our  subject,  it  will  be  proper  to  advert 
to  a  few  indications  of  the  preference  with  which  he  Avas  honoured. 
On  perusing  the  evangelists,  it  appears  that  he  was  invariably  selected 
by  our  Lord  as  one  of  the  three  who  were  present  in  the  most  retired 
scenes  of  his  life,  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  in  the  house  of 
Tairus,  and  in-  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  Whoever  else  were  absent, 
John  was  sure  to  share  his  most  confidential  moments,  and  to  witness 
his  most  secret  joys  and  conflicts.  At  the  paschal  supper,  to  which 
he  looked  forward  with  so  much  eagerness  as  the  appointed  season 
for  a  more  unreserved  disclosure  of  his  purposes  than  he  had  made 
before,  he  placed  John  next  to  himself,  in  such  a  manner  that  his  head 
naturally  rested  on  his  bosom.  Through  him  it  was  that  the  rest  of 
the  disciples  applied  to  our  J^ord  to  be  informed  who  it  was  that  should 
betray  him.  But  the  most  decisive  evidence  of  the  preference  bestowed 
upon  .John  arises  from  his  being  chosen  to  take  care  of  his  widowed 
mother  after  his  decease.  The  circumstance  is  related  with  inimitable 
simplicity  and  beauty.  No  sooner  w^as  our  Saviour  elevated  on  the 
cross  than  he  sees  his  mother  standing  by  along  with  the  disciple  tinhorn 
he  loved :  to  the  mother  he  said,  Behold  thy  son ;  to  John,  Behold  tliy 
mother :  and  from  that  vwment  John  took  her  to  his  own  house.  Whai 
a  rebuke  to  that  proud  and  false  philosophy  which  pretends  to  extin- 
guish the  feelings  of  nature,  and  to  erect  its  trophies  on  the  ruins  of 
humanity !  By  commuting  to  the  beloved  disciple  so  precious  a 
deposite,  he  gave  him  a  stronger  demonstration  of  his  esteem  than  by 
a  whole  volume  of  panegyric. 

After  the  resurrection  and  ascension,  he  continued  to  receive  from 
his  Saviour  similar  proofs  of  his  preference.  Preserved  amid  a  violent 
and  bloody  persecution,  he  was  permitted  (such  is  the  universal  tradi- 
tion of  the  church)  to  survive  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  to  witness,  in  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  dispersion  of  its  inhabitants,  the  ful- 
filment of  his  own  predictions,  and,  finally,  to  close  a  life  extended  to 
an  extreme  old  age  in  peace  and  in  the  bosom  of  his  friends.  Nor 
was  this  the  only  distinction  he  enjoyed.  To  him  it  was  given  to  con- 
vey to  the  churches  of  Asia,  among  whom  he  dwelt,  repeated  mes- 
sages from  his  ascended  Lord  to  behold  his  glory,  and  to  catch  the 
last  accents  of  inspiration.  To  him  it  was  given,  not  only  to  record 
the  life  of  the  Saviour  in  common  with  the  other  evangelists,  but  to 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  213 

transmit  to  future  ages  the  principal  events  and  vicissitudes  which 
shall  befall  the  church  to  the  end  of  time,  in  a  series  of  visions  which 
revived  the  spirit  and  manner,  and  more  than  equalled  tlie  sublimity 
of  the  ancient  prophets.  Endowed  with  a  genius  equally  simple  and 
sublime,  he  mingles  with  ease  among  the  worshippers  before  the 
throne,  communes  with  beings  of  the  highest  order,  and  surveys  the 
splendours  of  the  celestial  temple  with  an  eye  that  never  blenched. 
The  place  which  he  occupies  in  the  order  and  succession  of  inspired 
men  must  at  the  same  time  ensure  to  him  a  high  distinction ;  for 
while  Moses  leads  the  way,  John  brings  up  the  rear  of  that  illustrious 
company. 

To  the  selection  of  the  passage  to  which  your  attention  is  directed, 
I  was  led  by  an  irresistible  impulse  the  moment  I  heard  of  the  mel 
ancholy  event  which  has  deprived  you  of  your  beloved  pastor.  It 
appeared  to  me  peculiarly  applicable  to  his  character,  nor  am  I  appre- 
hensive of  encountering  contradiction  when  I  affirm,  that  among  his 
numerous  acquaintance  an  entire  unanimity  will  be  felt  on  this  subject. 
It  will  be  readily  confessed,  that  his  piety  was  of  the  same  mould  and 
complexion  with  that  which  distinguished  the  beloved  disciple.  In 
the  attempt  I  shall  make  to  delineate  his  character,  let  me  not  be  sus- 
pected of  the  presumption  of  attempting  to  impart  any  information  to 
you,  on  whose  minds  his  virtues  have  made  that  indelible  impression 
Avhich  is  far  above  the  power  of  words.  It  is  solely  for  the  use  of 
those  who  were  placed  beyond  the  influence  of  his  example  and  the 
benefit  of  his  instructions,  that  it  appears  to  me  not  improper  to  exhibit 
some  of  the  more  conspicuous  features  which  contributed  to  render 
him  so  eminent  a  pattern  of  Christian  excellence. 

It  is  a  homage  due  to  departed  worth,  whenever  it  rises  to  such  a 
height  as  to  render  its  possessor  an  object  of  general  attention,  to 
endeavour  to  rescue  it  from  oblivion  ;  that  when  it  is  removed  from  the 
observation  of  men,  it  may  still  live  in  their  memory,  and  transmit 
through  the  shades  of  the  sepulchre  some  reflection,  however  faint,  of 
its  living  lustre.  By  enlarging  the  cloud  of  witnesses  by  which  we 
are  encompassed,  it  is  calculated  to  give  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  desire 
of  imitation  ;  and  even  the  despair  of  reaching  it  is  not  without  its  use, 
by  checking  the  levity  and  correcting  the  pride  and  presumption  of  the 
human  heart. 

Doctor  Ryland  was  born  January  29,  1753,  at  Warwick,  where 
his  venerable  father  exercised  his  ministry  for  some  years ;  from 
whence  he  removed  to  Northampton. 

The  most  remarkable  particular  recorded  of  his  infancy  is  hi?  early 
progress  in  the  Hebrew  language,  which  was  such,  that  he  read  a 
chapter  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  to  the  celebrated  Hervey,  before  he  was 
five  years  old.  About  his  thirteenth  year  he  became  deeply  impressed 
with  religious  concern ;  and  without  any  thing  very  singular  in  his 
experience,  his  conviction  ripened  into  genuine  conversion,  and  he  was 
baptized  on  a  profession  of  his  faith  in  his  fourteenth  year.  At  the 
request  of  the  church  he  began  to  exercise  his  ministerial  gifts  in  liis 


2U  FTFNERAL  SERMON 

seventeenth  year ;  and  after  continuing  to  assist  his  father  for  some 
years,  he  was  ordained  co-pastor  with  him  in  the  year  1781.  In  this 
situation  he  remained  for  siMiie  time  ;  when,  on  liis  father's  removal 
from  Norllianipton,  he  became  sole  pastor  nnfil  the  year  1793,  when 
he  received  a  unanimous  invitation  to  the  joint  offices  of  president  of 
the  Bristol  Education  Society  and  pastor  of  Broadmead.  How  he 
conducted  himself  in  the  first  scene  of  his  labours  many  living  wit- 
nesses can  attest;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  his  ministry  during  that  period 
was  eminently  acceptable  and  useful.  During  his  residence  at  North- 
ampton, he  was  in  labours  more  abundant;  far  from  confining  his 
ministry  to  a  single  spot,  he  diffused  its  benefits  over  a  wide  circle, 
preaching  much  in  the  surrounding  villages  ;  and  though,  on  his  remo 
val  to  Bristol,  his  numerous  avocations  rendered  his  ministerial  exer- 
tions less  frequent,  he  may  justly  be  considered,  on  the  whole,  as  one 
of  the  most  laborious  of  p;>stors.  He  preached,  during  his  w^hole 
career,  not  less  than  eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  ninety-one  ser- 
mons, and  at  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  distinct  places. 

If  as  a  preacher  he  never  attained  the  highest  summit  of  popularity, 
he  was  always  heard  with  attention.  His  ministry  was  replete  with 
instruction,  and  not  unfrequently  accompanied  with  an  unction  which 
rendered  it  irresistible.  As  he  possessed  none  of  those  graces  of  elo- 
cution and  manner  which  secure  superficial  applause,  he  was  always 
most  esteemed  by  those  who  heard  him  the  oftenest ;  and  his  stated 
hearers  rarely,  if  ever,  wished  to  exchange  the  voice  of  their  pastor  for 
that  of  a  stranger.  His  address  was  such  as  produced  an  instanta- 
neous conviction  of  his  sincerity.  It  displayed,  even  to  the  most 
superficial  observer,  a  mind  infinitely  above  being  actuated  by  the  lust 
of  applause  ;  a  spirit  deeply  imbued  ■with  a  sense  of  eternal  realities, 
and  ready  to  pour  itself  forth  as  a  libation  on  the  sacrifice  of  the  faith 
and  obedier.je  of  his  converts.  The  effect  of  his  discourses,  excellent 
as  they  were  in  themselves,  was  prodigiously  heightened  by  the  venera- 
tion universally  felt  for  his  character,  zs^i  the  just  and  high  estimation 
entertained  of  his  piety.  Piety,  indeed,  was  his  distinguished  charac- 
teristic, which  he  possessed  to  a  degree  that  raised  him  inconceivably 
beyond  the  level  of  ordinary  Christians.  Devotion  appeared  to  be  the 
■principal  element  of  his  being :  it  was  next  to  impossible  to  converse 
with  him  without  perceiving  how  entirely  it  pervaded  his  mind,  and 
imparted  to  his  whole  deportment  an  air  of  purity,  innocence,  and 
sanctity,  difficult  for  words  to  express.  His  piety  did  not  display  itself 
i'l  a  profusion  of  religious  discourse,  nor  in  frequently  alluding  to  the 
interior  exercises  of  his  mind  on  spiritual  subjects.  He  was  seldom 
known  to  speak  of  his  religious  joys  or  sorrows  :  his  '^votional  feCi- 
ings  W'ere  too  deep  and  too  sacred  to  suffer  themselves  to  cvapor&ie  in 
ordinary  conversation.  His  religion  appeared  in  its  fruits  ;  in  gentle 
ness,  humility,  and  benevolence ;  in  a  steady,  conscientious  performance 
of  ever}'  duty  ;  and  a  careful  abstinence  from  every  appearance  of  evl' 
As  little  did  his  character  partake  of  the  ascetic.  It  never  entered  into 
his  thoughts  that  religion  was  an  enemy  to  the  innocent  pleasures  and 
social  endearments  of  human  life  of  which  he  entertained  ahighrclisir 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  215 

and  which  his  constant  regard  to  the  Deity  rendered  subservient  to 
piety,  by  the  gratitude  which  they  inspired  and  the  conviction  which 
they  deepened  of  the  divine  benignity.  His  love  to  the  Great  Supreme 
was  equally  exempt  from  slavish  timidity  and  presumptuous  familiarity; 
it  was  an  awful  love,  such  as  the  beatific  vision  may  be  supposed  to 
inspire  where  the  worshippers  veil  their  faces  in  that  presence  in  which 
they  rejoice  with  ecstatic  joy.  As  he  cherished  a  firm  persuasion  that 
the  attributes  of  the  Deity  ensure  the  p>-oduction  of  the  greatest  possi- 
ble sum  of  good,  in  comparison  of  which  the  quantity  of  natural  and 
moral  evil  permitted  to  remain  vanishes  and  disappears,  his  views  of 
the  divine  administration  were  a  source  of  unmingled  joy ;  while  his 
profound  sense  of  the  essential  holiness  and  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Ruler,  kept  alive  those  sentiments  of  penitence  and  humility  to  which 
too  many  optimists  are  strangers.  He  feared  the  great  and  terrible 
name  of  the  Lord  his  God. 

Humility  was,  in  fact,  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  his  character. 
It  was  depicted  on  his  countenance,  his  manners,  his  language  ;  it  per- 
vaded almost  every  thing  he  said  or  did.  He  might  most  truly  be 
said,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  to  be  clothed  with  it.  The  mode 
in  which  it  operated  was  at  the  utmost  remove  from  the  shallow  expe- 
dients adopted  by  those  who  vainly  attempt  to  secure  the  praise  of  that 
quality  without  possessing  it.  It  neither  prompted  him  to  depreciate 
his  talents  nor  to  disclaim  his  virtues  ;  to  speak  in  debasing  terms  of 
himself  nor  to  exaggerate  his  imperfections  and  failings.  It  taught 
him  the  rarer  art  of  forgetting  himself.  His  readiness  to  take  the 
lowest  place  could  only  be  exceeded  by  the  eagerness  of  all  who 
knew  him  to  assign  him  the  highest ;  and  this  was  the  only  competi- 
tion which  the  distinctions  of  life  ever  cost  him.  His  modesty  was 
such  that  the  praises  he  was  most  solicitous  to  merit  he  blushed  to 
receive ;  and  never  appeared  so  disconcerted  and  embarrassed  as 
when  he  was  necessitated  to  hear  his  own  commendations.  Hence  it 
will  be  easily  inferred,  that  he  was  completely  exempt  from  the 
jealousy  of  superior  talent  or  reputation  ;  that  it  gave  him  not  a  mo- 
ment's uneasiness  to  find  himself  eclipsed,  and  that  he  was  the  ardent 
admirer  and  panegyrist  of  the  mental  endowments  in  which  he  was 
most  deficient.  Though  he  had  neglected  to  cultivate  the  powers  of 
his  imagination,  and  was  little  distinguished  for  the  graces  of  style,  no 
one  was  ever  more  disposed  to  admire  them  wherever  they  were  con- 
spicuous. The  candour  and  benignity  of  his  mind  prepared  him  to 
embrace  every  kind  of  intellectual  superiority,  to  rejoice  in  every  dis- 
play of  talent  devoted  to  the  interest  of  religion,  and  to  derive  exquisite 
gratification  from  the  operation  of  those  qualities  and  powers  to  which 
he  made  the  least  pretensions.  His  enjoyment  of  intellectual  repast 
was  not  impaired  by  the  consciousness  of  not  having  contributed  to 
furnish  it ;  and  his  virtue  was  thus  its  own  reward,  by  enabling  him 
to  reap  the  harvest  where  he  neither  sowed  the  seed  nor  prepared 
the  soil. 

Il  any  man  ever  practised  the  gentleness  of  Jesus  Christ,  it  was 
certainly  our  lamented  friend.     Possessed  of  a  temper  naturally  quick 


21fl  FUNERAL  SERMON 

and  irritable,  he  had,  by  the  aid  of  reason  and  religion,  so  far  subdued 
that  propensity,  t!iat  it  was  rarely  suiFered  to  appear ;  and  when  it  did, 
it  was  a  momentary  agitation  whieli  quickly  subsided  into  kindness 
and  beniiiiiity.  His  sensibility  was  exquisite.  There  were  a  numer- 
ous class  of  subjects  to  which  he  could  rarely  advert  without  tears. 
The  bare  recurrence  to  his  mind  of  the  great  objects  of  religion  was 
sufficient  to  produce  a  gush  of  tenderness  ;  so  entirely  was  his  heart 
softened,  that  it  might  be  truly  styled  a  heart  ofjlesh.  Nor  was  his 
sensibility  conlined  to  religion.  It  pervaded  the  whole  system  of  his 
life,  producing  a  quick  and  powerful  sympathy,  not  only  with  his  ovvn 
species,  but  with  the  whole  circle  of  animated  nature,  the  properties 
of  which  he  took  gi-eat  delight  in  investigating,  and  in  tracing  the 
exquisite  contrivance  of  its  benevolent  Author  for  its  preservation  and 
enjoyment. 

His  extreme  susceptibility  of  feeling  combined  with  his  gentleness 
and  timidity,  necessarily  exposed  him  to  be  wounded  whenever  he  en- 
countered harsh  and  unfeeling  manners  ;  and  from  the  same  cause  he 
was  liable  to  be  hurt  by  every  symptom  of  unkindness,  even  where 
none  was  intended.  His  sensitive  mind  was  impressed  with  every 
variety  of  temper  in  those  with  whom  he  conversed ;  and  if  his  peace 
was  less  frequently  invaded  from  this  quarter  than  might  have  been 
expected,  it  is  to  be  ascribed  to  that  reverence  which  his  character  so 
universally  inspired.  It  seemed  a  sort  of  sacrilege  to  trespass  upon 
so  much  innocence  and  piety. 

And  here  I  cannot  but  remark,  that  though  religion  in  its  ordinary 
mode  of  exhibition  commands  but  little  respect,  Avhen  it  rises  to  the 
sublime,  and  is  perceived  to  tincture  and  pervade  the  whole  character, 
it  seldom  fails  to  draw  forth  the  homage  of  mankind.  The  most  hard- 
ened impietv  and  daring  profligacy  will  find  it  difficult  to  despise  the 
man  who  manifestly  appears  to  walk  with  God,  whose  whole  system 
of  hfe  is  evidendy  influenced  and  directed  by  the  powers  of  the  world 
to  come.  The  ridicule  cast  on  religious  characters  is  not  always 
directed  towards  their  religion,  but  more  often  perhaps  to  the  little  it 
performs  contrasted  with  the  loftiness  of  its  pretensions  ;  a  ridicule 
which  derives  its  force  from  the  very  sublimity  of  the  principles  which 
the  profession  of  piety  assumes.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
character  of  Dr.  Ryland  provoked,  on  any  occasion,  the  sneer  of  the 
infidel  or  the  scorn  of  the  ungodly. 

The  opportunities  of  making  great  sacrifices  for  the  good  of  mankind 
are  of  rare  occurrence,  and  he  who  remains  inactive  till  it  is  in  his 
power  to  confer  signal  benefits  or  yield  important  services,  is  in  immi- 
nent danger  of  incurring  the  doom  of  the  slothful  servant.  It  is  the 
preference  of  duty  to  inchnation  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  it  is  the 
practice  of  self-denial  in  a  thousand  little  instances  which  forms  the 
■ruest  test  of  character,  and  secures  the  honour  and  the  reward  of 
Ihose  who  live  not  to  themselves.  Viewed  in  this  light,  our  lamented 
friend  presented  a  pattern  of  Christian  virtue  rarely  if  ever  surpassed. 
His  whole  life  was  a  series  of  acts  of  self-denial ;  his  conduct  appeared 
invariably  to  proceed  from  the  impulse  of  benevolence  and  the  sense 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  217 

tjf  duty ;  and  though  not  exempt  from  the  errors  and  imperfections 
nicident  to  tlie  present  state,  his  eye  was  always  single,  his  inten- 
tions always  upright.  If  the  essence  of  Christian  perfection  consists 
in  a  sole  and  supreme  desire  to  do  the  will  of  God,  he  probably  made 
as  near  an  approach  to  it  as  is  attainable  in  the  present  state,  though 
he  not  only  never  pretended  to  it,  but  held  all  such  pretensions  in 
abhorrence. 

Justice  to  his  memoiy  will  not  permit  me  to  suppress  the  mention 
of  that  strict  and  inviolable  regard  to  truth  which  he  preserved  in  all 
his  words  and  actions.  He  would  never  allovv  himself  to  employ  those 
exaggerations  and  colours  in  the  narration  of  facts  which  many  who 
would  shudder  at  a  deliberate  falsehood  freely  indulge  ;  some  for  the 
gratilication  of  their  passions  or  the  advancement  of  their  interests, 
and  others  purely  from  the  impulse  of  vanity  and  a  wish  to  render 
their  narratives  more  striking,  and  their  conversation  more  poignant. 
Whatever  Dr.  Ryland  affirmed  was,  as  far  as  his  knowledge  extended, 
as  certain  as  an  identical  proposition ;  nor  was  he  satisfied  with  the 
substantial  truth  of  what  he  asserted ;  he  was  so  anxious  that  the  im 
pression  he  conveyed  should  exactly  coincide,  as  well  in  its  degree  as 
in  kind,  with  his  internal  conviction,  that,  if  it  be  possible,  he  was  too 
tenacious  of  truth,  and  may  be  said  to  have  carried  his  scrupulosity 
too  far.  I  have  often  been  amused  at  observing  the  compass  he 
would  fetch,  and  the  circumlocutions  he  would  have  recourse  to  in  the 
narration  of  facts,  rather  than  incur  the  possibility  of  misrepresentation 
or  mistake. 

Few  men  have  exhibited  more  unequivocal  proofs  of  candour  than 
your  excellent  and  lamented  pastor.  Though  a  Calvinist,  in  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word,  and  attached  to  its  peculiarities  in  a  higher 
degree  than  most  of  the  advocates  of  that  system,  he  extended  his 
affection  to  all  who  bore  the  image  of  Christ,  and  was  ingenious  in 
discovering  reasons  for  thinking  well  of  many  who  widely  dissented 
from  "his  religious  views.  No  man  was  more  remarkable  for  combining 
a  zealous  attachment  to  his  own  principles  with  the  utmost  liberality 
of  mind  towards  those  who  differed  from  him  ;  an  abhorrence  of  error 
with  the  kindest  feelings  towards  the  erroneous.  He  detested  the 
spirit  of  monopoly  in  religion,  and  opposed  every  tendency  to  circum- 
scribe it  by  the  limits  of  party.  His  treatise  on  Baptism  furnishes  a 
beautiful  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  religious  controversy  should 
be  conducted  on  a  subject  on  which  the  combatants  on  both  sides  have 
frequently  disgraced  themselves  by  an  acrimony  and  bitterness  in  an 
inverse  proportion  to  the  importance  of  the  point  in  debate.  How 
extraordinary  is  it,  that  they  who  differ  only  on  one  subject,  and  that 
confessedly  of  secondary  moment,  should  have  contended  with  mor6 
fierceness  than  has  usually  been  displayed  in  a  contest  pro  oris  ctfocis, 
for  all  that  is  dear  and  important  in  Christianity !  Is  it  that  their  near 
approach  as  religious  denominations  exposes  them  more  to  the  spirit 
of  rivalry,  as  adjoining  kingdoms  are  the  most  hostile  to  each  other,  or 
that  it  is  the  property  of  Isigotry  to  acquire  an  additional  degree  of 
malignity  by  being  concentrated  on  one  point  and  directed  to  one 


218  FUNERAL  SERMON 

object  ?  Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  the  fact  is  singular  and  greatly 
to  be  lamcntoci.  IIo  whose  removal  from  us  we  so  deeply  regret  was 
too  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  to  expose  him  to  that 
snare ;  his  love  of  good  men  of  every  natiou,  sect,  and  party  was 
fervent  and  disinterested,  nor  was  it  confined  to  the  bounds  of  his 
personal  knowledge  ;  it  engaged  him  in  a  most  aflectionate  and  exten- 
sive correspondence  with  eminent  persons  in  remote  quarters  of  the 
globe,  whose  faces  he  never  saw ;  so  signally  was  he  prepared  for 
sitting  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven,  where  the  whole  assembly  of  the  church  of  the  first-born  will 
be  convened  before  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

In  addition  to  his  other  excellences,  none  who  were  honoured  \vith 
his  intimacy  will  fail  to  recollect  his  diligence  in  the  improvement  of 
time,  of  the  value  of  which  he  entertained  too  deep  a  sense  to  allow 
any  part  of  it  to  run  to  waste.  By  the  practice  of  early  rising  and  a 
most  exact  distribution  of  his  hours  to  their  respective  employments, 
he  contrived  to  husband  a  treasure  which  no  one  is  permitted  to 
squander  without  severely  repenting  it,  though  that  repentance  may 
possibly  arrive  too  late.  Employing  every  day  as  if  it  were  the  last, 
and  subjecting  every  portion  of  time  to  a  religious  regulation,  he 
worked  out  his  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling.  From  taste  as  well 
as  from  principle  he  was  warmly  attached  to  order  and  method,  which 
he  extended  to  tha  minutest  particvdars.  Thus  the  transactions  of  his 
whole  life  lay  before  him,  by  looking  back  on  the  turns  and  vicissitudes 
of  which  he  w^as  accumulating  fresli  materials  for  gratitude,  and 
acquiring  new  lessons  of  prudence  and  piety. 

Tliat  w-ith  all  this  varied  excellence  he  imited  some  imperfections 
will  be  readily  allowed ;  at  the  same  time  it  is  but  justice  to  remark, 
that  they  were  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word  imperfectioiis,  since  they 
grew  out  of  his  natural  temperament,  and  were  not  to  be  imputed  to  an 
obliquity  of  will  or  to  a  deficiency  in  the  strength  of  his  moral  prin- 
ciple, ^he  most  conspicuous  of  these  was  a  certain  timidity  of  spirit, 
a  proneness  to  augur  danger  where  none  existed,  which,  from  an 
excessive  apprehension  of  doing  evil,  sometimes  arrested  his  pow'er 
of  doing  good.  His  caution  was  extreme,  and  his  natural  aversion  to 
bold  and  hazardous  measures,  on  some  occasions,  enervated  his  reso- 
lutions and  crippled  his  efforts.  Alive  to  the  possible  inconvenience 
resulting  from  an  unnecessary  disclosure  of  his  views,  he  narrowed  his 
confidence  too  much,  lost  the  advantage  of  that  assistance  and  co- 
operation which  he  might  easily  have  commanded,  and  in  some  of  the 
most  trying  exigencies  of  his  Hfe  doomed  himself  to  walk  alone.  It 
must  be  also  acknowledged  by  his  warmest  admirers  that  he  was 
deficient  in  the  spirit  of  authority,  that  he  wanted  the  power  of  assert- 
ing his  rights,  of  repressing  the  encroachments  of  petulance,  and  of 
sustaining  his  pretensions  to  rule.  The  extreme  gentleness  of  his 
character  was  such,  that  it  left  him  too  much  to  the  mercy  of  those 
who  were  conscious  ihey  might  abuse  it  without  danger  of  incurring 
his  resentment.  He  not  only  carried  with  him  no  offensive,  but  he  had 
no  defensive  armour.     This  want  of  force  and  energy  of  character. 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  219 

which  was  his  chief-  imperfection,  was  not,  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
entirely  natural,  but  to  be  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  to  an  injudicious 
mode  of  treatment  in  early  life,  and  to  some  severe  trials  in  the  com- 
mencement of  his  career,  which  pressed  with  such  force  on  his  mind 
that  it  never  entirely  recovered  its  elasticity.  He  witnessed  in  his 
excellent  father  an  excess  of  vehemence,  a  careless  intrepidity  of 
temper,  that  with  the  most  upright  intentions  involved  him  in  so  much 
distress,  that  his  anxiety  to  avoid  that  extreme  betrayed  him  into  a 
contrary  one.  The  grand  maxim  which  he  seems  to  have  adopted  for 
the  regulation  of  his  life  was  a  determination  to  shun  every  approach 
to  what  he  had  seen  productive  of  so  much  inconvenience  ;  forgetting, 
perhaps,  too  much,  that  the  opposite  to  that  which  is  wrong  is  not 
always  right.  Hence  the  fear  of  consequences  predominated  too 
much  in  his  course  of  action,  and  he  was  more  easily  deterred  by  the 
apprehension  of  possible  evil  than  incited  to  action  by  the  prospect  of 
good.  In  the  words  of  an  ingenious  writer,  employed  on  a  different 
occasion,  "  there  was  nothing  he  needed  to  be  cautioned  against  so  much 
as  caution  itself.'"* 

I  am  aware  there  are  those  who  have  charged  our  excellent  friend 
with  a  want  of  openness  of  character.  As  far  as  such  an  imputation 
has  any  colour  of  truth,  it  is  but  just  to  remark,  that  the  deficiency 
complained  of  was  "i  no  degree  tinctured  with  dissimulation  or  cunning. 
It  was  partly  the  eftect  of  that  timidity  which  he  was  acknowledged 
to  possess,  partly  of  that  gentleness  which  shrunk  with  an  instinctive 
recoil  from  contention,  and  which  disposed  him,  however  his  feelings 
might  be  wounded,  to  breathe  out  his  complaints  in  the  ear  of  friend 
ship  rather  than  demand  such  an  explanation  or  apology  as  migh. 
have  restored  confidence  and  prevented  a  repetition  of  the  offence 
He  repressed  his  anger,  but  indulged  his  grief;  and  was  accustomed 
on  such  occasions  to  conduct  himself  rather  like  a  person  wounded 
than  offended.  Thus  the  uneasy  sensations  with  which  his  mind  was 
fraught  were  allowed  to  accumulate,  producing  not  malignity  indeed 
or  rancour,  of  which  he  was  incapable,  but  permanent  disgust.  Be 
ye  angry,  saith  the  Scripture,  and  sin  not.  A  violent  suppression  of 
the  natural  feelings  is  not  the  best  expedient  for  obviating  their  injurious 
effects  ;  and  though  nothing  requires  a  more  vigilant  restraint  than  the 
emotions  of  anger,  the  uneasiness  of  which  it  is  productive  is,  perhaps, 
best  evaporated  by  its  natural  and  temperate  expression :  not  to  say 
that  it  is  a  wise  provision  in  the  economy  of  nature  for  the  repression 
of  injury,  and  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  decorum  of  society. 

Such,  and  such  only,  as  it  appears  to  me,  was  the  origin  of  that 
reserve  which  forms  the  most  plausible  objection  to  his  character,  and 
which,  when  closely  investigated,  will  be  considered  more  as  an 
infelicity  than  a  fault.  That  it  contributed  to  render  him  less  influen- 
tial, less  powerful,  and  totally  disqualified  him  to  be  the  head  of  a 
party  will  be  readily  admitted  ;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whetht  i  '  rcfi- 
dered  him  much  less  amiable.     The  worst  effect  of  it  was,  that  it 

*  See  Morris's  "  Life  of  Fuller,"  a  work  which  contains  a  most  able  and  accarate  delineation  8< 
•he  characterof  Ihatextraorilinary  man. 


220  FUNERAL  SERMON 

sonieiimes  imparted  to  his  conduct  the  semblance  of  disingenuous  con- 
cealmont,  while  lie  was  in  reality  an  example  of  artless  simplicitv. 
For  the  liberty  I  have  assumed  of  alliidijig  to  tiie  imperfections  of  our 
lanuined  frioiul.  my  only  apology  is,  that  un(]ualified  praise  is  entitled 
to  liillo  credit,  and  that  the  failings  wliich  attach  to  the  character  of  the 
best  of  men  are  often  as  instructive  as  their  virtues. 

It  may  be  expected  that  something  should  he  said  of  his  literary 
character  and  attainments  ;  a  circumstance  not  to  be  neglected  in  speak- 
ing of  the  president  of  a  theological  institute.  My  knowledge,  how- 
ever, on  this  head  is  too  limited  to  allow  me  to  say  more  than  that  he 
was  a  scholar  from  his  infancy,  that  his  attainments  in  the  Hebrew 
language  were  profound,  that  he  had  a  general  acquaintance  with  the 
principles  of  science,  and  that  his  reading  was  various  and  extensive. 
As  he  was  extremely  addicted  to  study  and  meditation,  so  his  mental 
opulence  was  much  greater  than  his  modesty  would  permit  him  to 
reveal ;  his  disposition  to  conceal  his  attainments  being  nearly  as 
strong  as  that  of  some  men  to  display  them. 

He  had  a  passion  for  natural  history,  in  the  pursuit  of  which  he 
was  much  assisted  by  the  peculiar  structure  of  his  eyes,  which  were 
a  kind  of  natural  microscopes.  The  observations  he  made  on  various 
natural  productions,  without  the  aid  of  instruments,  were  really  sur- 
prising ;  and  though  the  peculiarity  in  his  visual  organs  deprived  him 
of  the  pleasure  of  contemplating  the  sublime  and  magnificent  features 
of  nature,  it  gave  him  a  singular  advantage  for  tracing  her  minuter 
operations. 

But  the  science  in  which  he  most  delighted,  and  to  which  he  bem 
the  full  force  of  his  mind,  was  theolog}":  not  that  theology  which  is 
built  on  human  speculation,  and  supported  by  scholastic  subtleties,  but 
that  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  the  mysteries  of  his  will,  which  shone  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  By  the  incessant  sttidy  of  the  Scriptures, 
your  pastor  became  a  scribe  well  instructed  for  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and,  like  a  wise  householder,  was  enabled  to  bring  forth  out  of  his  trea- 
sure things  nevj  and  old.  The  system  of  divinity  to  which  he  adhered 
was  moderate  Calvinism,  as  modelled  and  explained  by  that  prodigy 
of  metaphysical  acumen,  the  celebrated  Jonathan  Edwards.  For  the 
writings  of  this  great  man,  and  those  of  his  followers,  he  formed  ? 
warm  predilection  very  early,  which  continued  ever  after  to  exert  a 
powerful  influence  on  his  public  ministry  as  well  as  his  theological 
inquiries  and  pursuhs.  It  inspired  him  with  the  most  elevated  con 
ceptions  of  the  moral  character  of  the  Deity,  to  the  display  of  which 
it  taught  him  to  refer  the  whole  economy  of  Providence  and  of  grace, 
while  he  inculcated  the  indispensable  duty  of  loving  God,  not  merely 
for  the  benefits  he  bestows,  but  for  what  he  is  in  himself,  as  essential 
to  true  religion.  Hence  he  held  in  abhorrence  tliose  pretended  religious 
affections  which  have  their  origin  and  termination  in  self  Whethei 
he  attached  an  undue  importance  to  these  speculations,  and  rendered 
them  occasionally  too  prominent  in  his  public  ministrations,  it  is  not 
for  me  to  determine ;  it  is  certain  that  they  effectually  secured  him 
from  the  slightest  tendency  to  Antinomiaiism,  and  contributed  not  a 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  221 

little  to  give  purity  jind  elevation  to  his  religious  views.  The  two 
extremes  against  which  you  are  well  aware  he  was  most  solicitous  to 
guard  the  religious  public  were,  Pelagian  pride  and  Antiiiomian  licen- 
tiousness ;  the  first  of  which  he  detested  as  an  insult  on  the  grace  of 
the  gospel ;  the  last,  on  the  majesty  and  authority  of  the  law. 

By  the  removal  of  u  minister  of  Christ  so  able,  so  disinterested, 
so  devoted,  you  have  sustained  a  loss,  the  magnitude  of  which  it  is 
difficult  to  appreciate,  much  more  to  repair.  A  successor  you  may 
easily  procure,  but  where  will  you  find  one  who  will  so  naturally  care 
for  your  state?  who,  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  is  willing  to 
impart  to  you  not  only  the  gospel,  but  his  own  soul  also,  because  ye  are 
dear  unto  him  ?  You  may  hear  the  same  truths  from  other  lips,  sup- 
ported by  illustrations  and  arguments  equally  clear  and  cogent :  the 
same  duties  inculcated  by  similar  motives  ;  but  where  will  you  find 
them  enforced  and  recommended  by  an  example  equally  elevated,  an 
affection  equally  tender?  Where  will  you  look  for  another  whose 
whole  life  is  a  luminous  commentary  on  his  doctrine,  and  who  can 
invite  you  to  no  heights  of  piety  but  what  you  are  conscious  he  has  him- 
self attained  ?  When  you  add  to  this  the  eflect  of  a  residence  among 
you  of  above  thirty  years,  during  which  he  became  the  confidential 
friend  of  your  parents,  the  guide  of  your  youth,  and  after  witnessing 
the  removal  of  one  generation  to  a  better  world,  was  the  honoured  in- 
strument of  raising  up  anotlier  in  their  room  ;  when  you  reflet.-t  on  the 
continued  emanations  of  wisdom  and  piety  which  proceeded  for  so  long 
a  space  from  this  burning  and  shining  light,  you  must  be  convinced 
that  your  loss  is  irreparable.* 

The  removal  of  such  a  pastor,  of  one  whose  labours  you  have  so 
long  enjoyed,  is  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  a  church.  It  is  an  event 
which  no  living  generation  can  witness  more  than  once;  and  it  surely 
calls  upon  you  to  consider  what  improvement  you  have  made  of  such 
advantages,  and  what  is  the  prospect  that  awaits  you  in  the  final  day 
of  account,  when  you  and  your  pastor  shall  meet  once  more  in  the 
presence  of  the  Judge ;  he  to  give  an  account  of  his  ministry,  you  of 
its  effect  on  your  character.  In  relation  to  him  the  event  is  not  doubt- 
ful. He  has  finished  his  course,  he  has  kept  the  faith. ;  henceforth  there 
remains  for  him  a  crown  of  righteousness  ivhich  Christ  the  righteous 
Judge  will  give  him  on  that  day.  Would  to  God  the  issue  were  equally 
certain  and  equally  happy  on  the  part  of  those  who  so  long  enjoyed 
the  benefit  of  such  a  ministry !  That  such  will  be  the  issue  with  re- 
spect to  many  who  compose  this  auditory  we  cannot  doubt ;  and  with 
what  inconceivable  joy  will  he  witness  the  felicity  which  awaits  them, 
while  he  presents  them  before  the  throne,  saying,  Here  am  I,  and  the 
children  which  thou  hast  given  me  !  With  what  delight  will  they  renew 
the  intercourse  which  death  had  interrupted,  and  retrace  together  the 
steps  of  their  mysterious  pilgrimage !  while  the  gratitude  they  will 
experience  towards  him  who  was  instrumental  in  conducting  them 

«  The  church  wisely  soupht  for  a  successor  tn  Iheir  excellent  pastor  in  the  8  itlior  of  fliis  dis 
course,  who  removed  from  Leicester  to  Uristol  in  the  spring  of  1S26 ;  but  whose  admirable  labours 
Uv;re  were  terminated  by  death  within  five  years. — Ed. 


822  rUNl'.KAL  SERMON 

Uiithor  will  bo  only  inferior  to  that  which  iheywill  feel  towards  Qm 
and  the  Lamb.  How  trivial  will  every  other  distinction  then  appear, 
compared  to  the  honour  of  havincr  turned  many  to  righteousness!  of 
haviiiij  sown  tluit  seetl  which  shall  be  reaped  in  life  everlasting  !  A 
large  portion  of  tliis  felicity  will,  we  cannot  doubt,  accrue  to  your  pas- 
tor from  those  who  are  accustomed  to  assemble  within  these  walls 
but  should  it  in  any  instance  be  otherwise,  should  the  event  be  of  ' 
contrary  nature,  he  tcillbc  a  su-cct-s)ncUi?}g  savour  to  God,  even  in  them 
that  perish.  His  happiness  will  be  unimpaired,  his  reward  undimin- 
ished, and  the  feelings  with  wliich  he  was  wont  to  contemplate  such  a 
catastrophe  will  give  place  to  sentiments  of  a  higher  order.  The 
tears  which  he  here  wept  over  souls  in  danger  of  perishing  will  be 
shed  no  more ;  all  his  agitation  and  anxiety  on  their  account  will  bv 
laid  to  rest;  nor  will  they  who  refused  to  constitute  his  joy  by  their 
conversion  be  suflered  to  mar  his  felicity  by  their  destruction. 

It  is  not  the  church  and  congregation  only  over  which  he  presided! 
with  so  much  honour  that  feels  itself  interested  in  this  event.  The 
sensation  w^hich  it  has  produced  is  widely  extended,  and  has  reached 
every  part  of  this  great  and  populous  city ;  a  city  siiJRciently  enlight- 
ened to  comprehend  his  worth  and  to  moiim  his  loss.  When  a 
Reynolds,  whose  munificence  flow-ed  in  a  thousand  channels,  and 
whose  example  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  public  mind,  quitted  the 
scene  which  he  had  so  long  adorned  with  his  presence,  and  enriched 
with  his  bounty,  that  a  general  sensation  should  be  excited  is  no  more 
than  might  be  expected.  But  that  the  removal  of  a  Christian  minis- 
ter, w  ho  possessed  none  of  these  advantages,  should  produce  a  regret 
so  universal  and  so  deep,  is  a  pleasing  homage  to  the  majesty  of 
religion  ;  a  practical  demonstration  of  the  power  it  exerts  over  the 
consciences  of  men.  If  blessings  are  bestowed  and  judgments 
averted  in  answer  to  prayer,  as  the  Scripture  every  where  teaches, 
and  the  efficacy  of  prayer  is  proportioned  to  the  fervour  of  faith  and 
the  perfection  of  obedience,  it  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  the  in- 
habitants of  this  place  may  be  indebted  to  our  excellent  friend,  by 
whose  removal  they  have  lost  a  powerful  intercessor  with  God. 

By  an  extensive  circle  of  ministers  and  churches  who  shared  his 
friendship  and  on  various  occasions  enjoyed  his  labours,  his  loss  will 
be  deeply  lamented,  and  not  without  reason ;  for  though  the  faithful 
dispensers  of  evangelical  instruction  may  now^  be  S'-'ckoned  by  thou- 
sands, how  few  are  left  who  can  sustain  a  comparison  with  him  in  all 
♦he  qualities  which  adorn  the  gospel,  and  give  the  possessor  power 
jvith  God, 

That  denomination  of  Christians  of  which  he  was  so  long  a  dis- 
tinguished ornament  will  especially  lay  this  providence  to  heart. 
3ur  hands  are  vv  eakened  this  day ;  and  if  the  glory  is  not  departed 
hcvn  us,  it  is  at  least  eclipsed  and  obscured.  We  have  been  visited 
with  stroke  upon  stroke.  Our  brightest  lights  have  been  successively 
extinguished ;  and  in  vain  do  we  look  around  for  a  Beddome,  a  Booth, 
a  Fuller,  or  a  Ryland ;  names  which  would  have  given  lustre  to  any 
denomination,  and  were  long  the  glory  of  ours.     Your  pastor  wa 


FOR  DR.  RYLAND.  223 

endeared  to  us  as  one^  of  the  last  links  of  the  chain  which  connected 
the  presenv,  generation  with  the  founders  of  the  Baptist  Mission. 
From  the  very  beginning  he  mingled  his  counsels  and  his  prayers 
with  that  determined  band  who,  in  the  absence  of  all  human  resources, 
resolved  to  send  the  gospel  to  tlie  remotest  quarter  of  the  globe ;  noi 
did  he  cease  to  his  last  hour  to  watch  over  its  progress  with  parental 
solicitude.  The  intimate  friendship  which  subsisted  between  that 
lovely  triumvirate,  Fuller,  Ryland,  and  SutclifT,  which  never  suffered 
a  moment's  interruption  or  abatement,  was  cemented  by  their  common 
attachment  to  that  object.  Of  congenial  sentiments  and  taste,  though 
of  very  different  temperament  and  character,  there  was  scarce  a 
thought  which  they  did  not  commixnicate  to  each  other,  while  they 
united  all  their  energies  in  supporting  the  same  cause ;  nor  is  it  easy 
to  determine  whether  the  success  of  our  mission  is  most  to  be  ascribed 
to  the  vigour  of  Fuller,  the  prudence  of  Sutcliff,  or  the  piety  of  Ryland. 
Is  it  presumption  to  suppose  they  still  turn  their  attention  to  that 
object?  that  they  ben  J  their  eyes  on  the  plains  of  Hindostan,  and 
sympathize  with  the  toils  of  Carey  and  of  his  associates,  content  to 
postpone  the  pleasure  which  awaits  them  on  his  arrival,  while  they 
behold  the  steady  though  gradual  progress  of  light,  and  see  at  no 
great  distance  the  idol  temp'cs  fallen,  the  vedas  and  shasters  con- 
signed to  oblivion,  the  cruel  rites  of  a  degrading  superstition  abhorred 
and  abandoned,  and  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  become  the  kingdoms 
of  God  and  of  his  Christ  ? 

But  by  none  will  the  removal  of  our  excellent  friend  be  more  deeply 
felt  than  by  our  missionaries  in  India,  and  especially  by  the  venerable 
Carey,  whom  he  was  the  means  of  introducing  into  the  ministry;  a 
circumstance  which  he  sometimes  mentioned  with  honest  triumph, 
after  witnessing  the  career  of  that  extraordinary  man,  who,  from  the 
lowest  poverty  and  obscurity,  without  assistance,  rose  by  dint  of 
unrelenting  industry  to  the  highest  honours  of  literature,  became  one 
of  the  first  of  orientalists,  the  first  of  missionaries,  and  the  instrument 
of  diffusing  more  religious  knowledge  among  his  contemporaries  than 
has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  individual  since  the  Reformation ;  a  man 
who  unites,  with  the  most  profound  and  varied  attainments,  the  fervour 
of  an  evangelist,  the  piety  of  a  saint,  and  the  simplicity  of  a  child. 
His  chief  consolation,  on  receiving  the  melancholy  tidings,  will  un- 
doubtedly arise  from  the  prospect  of  soon  meeting  in  a  better  world, 
where  those  who  have  been  fellow-pilgrims  in  this  vale  of  tears  will 
be  associated  in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour,  never  more  to  part. 

If  the  mere  conception  of  the  reunion  of  good  men,  in  a  future  state, 
infused  a  momentary  rapture  into  the  mind  of  Tully, — if  an  airy  specu- 
lation, for  there  is  reason  to  fear  it  had  little  hold  on  his  convictions, 
could  inspire  him  with  such  delight,  what  may  we  be  expected  to  feel 
who  are  assured  of  such  an  event  by  the  true  sayings  of  God!  How 
should  we  rejoice  in  the  prospect,  the  certainty  rather,  of  spending  a 
blissful  eternity  with  those  wliom  we  loved  on  earth,  of  seeing  them 
emerge  from  the  ruins  of  the  tomb  and  the  deeper  ruins  of  the  fall,  not 
only  uninjured,  but  refined  and  perfected,  "  with  every  tear  wiped  from 


224        FUNERAL  SERMON  FOR  DR.  RYLAND. 

their  eyes,"  standing  before  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb  in  white 
robes  (I lid  palms  in  their  hands,  crying  with  a  loud  voice,  Salvatio7i  to 
God  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne  and  to  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever  ! 
What  delight  will  it  afford  to  renew  the  sweet  counsel  we  have  taken 
togotiior,  to  recount  the  toils  of  combat  amd  the  labour  of  the  way,  and 
to  approach,  not  tlie  house,  but  the  throne  of  God  in  company,  in  order 
to  join  iu  the  syuiphouics  of  heavenly  voices,  and  lose  ourselves  amid 
the  splendours  and  fruitions  of  the  beatific  vision  ! 

To  that  state  all  the  pious  on  earth  are  tending;  and  if  there  is  a 
law  from  whose  operation  none  are  exempt,  which  irresistibly  conveys 
their  bodies  to  darkness  and  to  dust,  there  is  another  not  less  certain 
or  less  powerful  which  conducts  their  spirits  to  the  abodes  of  bliss, 
to  the  bosom  of  their  Father  and  their  God.  The  wheels  of  nature  are 
not  made  to  roll  backward;  every  thing  presses  on  towards  eternity; 
from  the  birth  of  time  an  impetuous  current  has  set  in,  which  bears  all 
the  sons  of  men  towards  that  interminable  ocean.  Meanwhile  heaven 
is  attracting  to  itself  whatever  is  congenial  to  its  nature,  is  enriching 
itself  by  the  spoils  of  earth,  and  collecting  within  its  capacious  bosom 
whatever  is  pure,  permanent,  and  divine,  leaving  nothing  for  the  last 
fire  to  consume  but  the  objects  and  the  slaves  of  concupiscence  ;  while 
every  thing  which  grace  has  prepared  and  beautified  shall  be  gathered 
and  selected  from  the  ruins  of  the  w^orld  to  adorn  that  eternal  city 
which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun  neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  in  it,  for  the 
glory  of  God  doth  enlighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof  Let 
us  obey  the  voice  that  calls  us  thither ;  let  us  seek  the  things  that 
are  above,  and  no  longer  cleave  to  a  world  which  must  shortly  perish, 
and  which  we  must  shortly  quit,  while  we  neg'ect  to  prepare  for  that 
in  which  we  are  invited  to  dwell  for  ever.  Let  us  follow  in  the  track 
of  those  holy  men  who  together  with  your  beloved  and  faithful  pastor 
have  taught  us  by  their  voice  and  encouraged  us  by  their  example, 
that,  laying  aside  every  weight  and  the  sin  that  most  easily  besets  us,  we 
may  run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  its.  While  every  thing 
within  us  and  around  us  reminds  us  of  the  approach  of  death,  and 
concurs  to  teach  us  that  this  is  not  our  rest,  let  us  hasten  our  prepera- 
lions  for  another  w^orld,  and  earnestly  implore  that  grace  whicli  alone 
can  put  an  end  to  that  fatal  war  which  our  desires  have  too  long  waged 
with  our  destiny.  When  these  move  in  the  same  direction,  and  that 
which  the  will  of  heaven  renders  unavoidable  shall  become  our  choice, 
all  things  will  be  ours ;  life  will  be  divested  of  its  vanity,  and  death 
of  its  terrors.  Seeing  then  that  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what 
manner  of  persons  ought  we  to  he  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness, 
looking  for  and  hasting  to  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the 
heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  shall  well 
vith  fervent  heat?  Nevertheless,  xve,  according  to  his  promise,  look  f 01 
lew  heavens  and  a  new  earth  in  which  dwelleth  righteousness. 


ON  THE  EXCELLENCY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION '. 

THE 

CIRCULAR    LETTER 

FROM   THE 

MINISTERS  AND  MESSENGERS  of  the  BAPTIST  CHURCHES 

OF    THE 


[Written  in  1787.] 
Vol.  I.— P 


THE  EXCELLENCY 

OF 

THE  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION. 


.   Dear  Brethren, 

We  are  happy  to  be  able  to  address  you  on  the  present  occasion. 
We  have  many  and  great  thanks  to  render  to  our  common  God  and 
Father,  for  preserving  us  through  another  year,  and  permitting  us  once 
more  to  assemble  ourselves  together.  We  have  too  often  experienced 
your  candour  and  good-will  to  doubt  of  your  bearing  with  us  while  we 
exhort  you  with  all  earnestness  and  sincerity. 

You  will  remember,  brethren,  the  dignity  of  the  dispensation  under 
which  you  live ;  that  it  is  not  the  institution  of  man,  but  the  wise  and 
gracious  plan  of  God  to  make  you  happy.  With  this  view  he  raised 
up  the  people  of  the  Jews,  kept  them  distinct  from  all  others,  and  gave 
them  such  a  portion  of  knowledge  as  might,  in  due  time,  prepare  foi 
the  display  of  the  gospel.  With  this  view  a  succession  of  priests 
was  kept  up,  the  eye  of  prophecy  was  enlightened,  and  the  hand  of 
Omnipotence  stretched  forth.  After  thus  preparing  the  way,  our 
great  Redeemer  himself  appeared  upon  the  earth,  lived  in  humiliation 
and  sorrow,  and  died  in  agony  and  disgrace.  During  the  time  of  his 
personal  ministry  he  had  every  attestation  of  Deity  in  his  favour,  and 
the  povver  of  God  was  often  exerted  in  a  most  signal  manner.  After 
his  ascension,  a  larger  measure  of  knowledge  and  power  was  given 
to  his  disciples  than  had  been  afforded  them  before.  They  asserted 
his  character,  and  affirmed  that  he  had  risen  from  the  dead,  in  the  very 
place  in  which  he  had  been  crucified.  They  were  endued  with  a 
miraculous  skill  in  tongues,  for  the  very  purpose  of  spreading  the 
gospel  through  the  different  parts  of  the  world  ;  and  with  what  success 
they  did  it,  and  how,  in  the  face  of  danger  and  of  death,  they  main- 
tained their  cause,  while  many  of  them  perished  in  their  sufferings,  Is 
well  known,  and  will  draw  tears  of  admiration  and  gratitude  from  all 
succeeding  ages. 

When  we  see  the  Saviour  descending  from  heaven  as  a  witness  for 
God,  and  behold  his  sufferings  and  death,  we  cannot  help  being  aston- 
ished at  so  stupendous  a  scene,  and  inquiring  into  the  purpose  it  was 
intended  to  accomplish.  One,  among  many  other  great  ends  which 
are  answered  by  it,  is  the  removing  the  ignorance  and  error  in  which 
we  are  by  nature  involved,  and  givijig  us  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
our  true  happiness.    If  there  be  a  moral  governor  of  the  world,  it  musi 

P2 


228  THE  EXCELLENCY  OF 

be  of  ijrcat  importance  to  know  upon  what  terms  we  stand  with  hira, 
and  wliat  expectations  we  may  form  from  him.  A  sober,  reflecting 
man  coidd  scarcely  feel  himself  at  case  till  ho  attained  to  some  cer- 
tainty in  points  of  so  much  consequence  ;  and  yet  how  little  informa- 
tion we  can  derive  from  reason  in  inquiries  of  this  nature  may  be 
seen  from  the  experience  of  past  ages,  and  those  the  most  cnliglitened 

,  and  refined  ;  which,  after  all  their  researches,  have  not  been  able  to 
come  to  any  agreement,  or  to  gain  any  satisfaction.  We  may  discover, 
by  the  light  of  nature,  the  existence  of  a  Being  who  is  possessed  of 
all  possible  perfection.  The  works  of  God  sufficiently  display  his 
goodness,  wisdom,  and  power ;  but  with  respect  to  the  application  of 
these  in  any  particular  instance  it  leaves  us  entirely  at  a  loss.  We 
have  no  measure  which  we  can  apply  to  the  operations  of  an  infi-nite 
mind  ;  and,  therefore,  though  we  may  be  assured  that  the  Divuie  Being 
possesses  all  the  attributes  which  compose  supreme  excellence,  it  is 
impossible  for  us  to  say,  in  particular  instances,  what  path  of  conduct 
may  best  consist  with  those  perfections  in  their  most  extensive  ope- 
ration. Indeed,  to  discover  not  onlv  the  leading  attributes  of  the 
Divine  Nature,  but  to  be  acquainted  beforehand  with  every  direction 
they  will  take,  would  be  fully  to  comprehend  the  jMost  High.  When, 
therefore,  without  the  aid  of  revelation,  we  attempt  to  foretel  the  dis- 
pensations of  the  Almighty  we  are  lost  in  a  maze,  and  are  obliged  to  rest 
in  vague  and  uncertain  conjectures.  This  holds  true,  more  especially, 
when  applied  to  the  conduct  of  Providence  with  respect  to  only  a 
small  part  of  creation.  In  this  case  our  uncertainty  is  doubled,  since 
we  know  that  all  the  works  of  God  form  one  vast  system,  and  that  the 
regulation  of  the  parts  must  be  subservient  to  the  administration  of  the 
whole.     But  this  situation  is  ours.     Confined  to  a  point  in  our  exist- 

*ence,  and  limited  in  our  ideas,  we  cannot  tell  what  relation  we  bear  to 
other  beings,  or  how  it  may  seem  fit  to  Divine  Providence  to  dispose 
of  us,  in  relation  to  those  higher  and  more  ultimate  designs  which  are 
continually  carrying  on.  Our  meaning  may  be  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing instance  : — It  is  certain  that  the  Divine  Being  is,  in  the  greatest 
degree,  compassionate  and  good  ;  but,  if  a  number  of  creatures  render 
themselves  unhappy  by  a  wilful  rebellion  against  him,  a  singular 
instance  would  arise.  It  would  be  impossible  to  say  whether  the 
exercise  of  compassion  here  M'ould  best  comport  whh  the  highest 
goodness  and  the  greatest  happiness  in  the  general  administration  of 
Providence,  because  no  one  could  trace  every  relation  which  the  parts 
bear  to  the  whole. 

This  you  will  perceive  is  a  case  entirely  to  the  point ;  for  disorder 
and  sin  have  entered  into  the  world.  It  is  evident  things  are  turned 
out  of  their  natural  and  original  channel — that  they  are  not  M'hat  they 
have  been,  nor  what  they  ought  to  be.  Men  have  corrupted  their  way. 
A  change  so  singular  in  the  creation — a  situation  so  striking,  and  so 
little  to  be  apprehended  under  the  government  of  a  holy  and  perfect 
Being,  naturally  leads  us  to  look  for  a  revolution  in  the  dispensations 
of  Providence.  In  such  a  state,  some  new  and  awful  interposition  of 
the  Divine  hand  might  well  be  expected.     There  is  something,  at  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION.  229 

same  time,  in  the  idea  of  having  provoked  the  displeasure  of  God, 
when  seriously  thought  of,  too  heavy  for  the  heart  of  man  to  bear. 
We  cannot  leave  his  presence,  we  cannot  resist  his  power,  we  cannot 
evade  his  stroke  Hence  mankind,  in  all  ages,  have  had  their  fears 
awakened,  and  have  taken  a  gloomy  survey  of  an  hereafter.  They 
saw  death  busy  around  them,  carrying  their  fellow-creatures  out  of 
their  sight.  Anxious  and  fearful  for  themselves,  they  sought  for  them 
in  the  dreams  of  poetic  illusion,  and  followed  them  in  the  gloomy 
visions  of  unenlightened  fancy.  They  found  that  life  was  filled  with 
vanity  and  sorrow ;  they  knew  not  but  death  would  extinguish  their 
existence,  or  transmit  them  to  still  greater  misery.  They  had  just 
light  enough  dimly  to  show  them  the  Judge  of  the  universe  seated  on 
his  throne,  in  wrath,  clouded  with  darkness,  and  beset  with  judgments. 
They  had  no  certain  access  to  him — no  acceptable  worship  to  pay 
him — no  assurance  that  their  prayers  would  be  answered,  or  their  sins 
forgiven  them.  They  saw  not  the  issue  of  things,  nor  could  they 
take  any  lengthened  view  of  futurity.  They  knew  not,  therefore,  how 
to  cherish  any  great  hopes,  to  form  any  high  and  extensive  plans ; 
they  were  confined  to  the  present  moment,  and  all  beyond  it  was 
covered  with  confusion  and  horror.  You  will  not,  my  brethren,  think 
this  description  overwrought,  if  you  read  the  first  chapter  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Herein  then  appears  the  supreme  excellence  of  the  Christian 
dispensation.  In  the  midst  of  this  darkness,  it  rises  like  the  sun  in  its 
strength,  and  all  these  gloomy  shades  melt  away,  and  are  lost  in  the 
■brightness  of  it.  It  no  longer  leaves  us  to  the  conjectures  of  reason, 
which  has  always  erred,  nor  to  the  fluctuating  opinions  of  men ;  but 
all  it  declares  it  confirms  by  the  authority  of  God.  The  truths  it 
discovers  were  proclaimed  by  the  Son  of  God  himself,  who  lay  in  the 
bosom  of  his  Father  from  eternity,  who  was  acquainted  with  all  his 
counsels,  and  created  all  his  works.  It  raises  no  hopes  within  but 
what  are  built  upon  the  promise  and  o^ith  of  Him  who  cannot  lie.  In 
the  mystery  of  Christ's  incarnation,  who  was  God  as  well  as  man,  in 
the  humiliation  of  his  life,  and  in  his  death  upon  the  cross,  we  behold 
the  most  stupendous  instance  of  compassion ;  while  at  the  same  mo- 
ment the  law  of  God  received  more  honour  than  it  could  have  done 
by  the  obedience  and  death  of  any,  or  of  all  his  creatures.  Mercy 
and  truth  are  met  together ;  righteousness  and  i^eace  have  kissed  each 
other.  In  this  dispensation  of  his  grace  he  has  reached  so  far  beyond 
our  highest  hopes  that,  if  we  love  him,  we  may  be  assured  that  he 
will  with  it  freely  give  us  all  things.  Access  to  God  is  now  opened 
at  all  times,  and  from  all  places ;  and  to  such  as  sincerely  ask  it,  he 
has  promised  his  Spirit  to  teach  them  to  pray,  and  to  help  their  infirmi- 
ties. The  sacrifice  of  Christ  has  rendered  it  just  for  him  to  forgive 
sin ;  and  whenever  we  are  led  to  repent  of  and  to  forsake  it,  even  the 
righteousness  of  God  is  declared  in  the  pardoii  of  it.  Dear  brethren, 
consolation  pours  itself  in  on  every  side  while  we  contemplate  the 
gospel,  and  refreshes  our  inmost  souls.  It  gives  us  the  prospect  of 
our  sins  being  pardoned — our  prayers  accepted — our  very  afHictions 


230  THE  EXUELLENCy  OP 

turned  into  blessings — and  our  existence  prolonged  to  an  endless  <lura. 
tion.  We  see  Clirislianily  indeed,  as  yet  but  in  its  infancy.  It  has  not 
already  reacbed  the  great  ends  it  is  intended  to  answer,  and  to  which 
it  is  constantly  advancing  At  present  it  is  but  as  a  grain  of  mustard' 
seed,  and  seems  to  bring  forth  a  tender  and  weakly  crop ;  but,  be 
assured,  it  is  of  God's  own  right-hand  planting,  and  he  will  never 
sufler  it  to  perish  It  will  soon  stretch  its  branches  to  the  river,  and 
its  shade  to  the  ei.ds  of  the  earth.  The  weary  will  repose  themselves 
under  it ;  the  huiigiy  will  partake  of  its  fruits  ;  and  its  leaves  will  be 
for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 

You,  dear  brethren,  who  profess  the  name  of  Jesus,  will  delight  in 
contemplating  the  increase  and  grandeur  of  his  kingdom,  and  your 
expectations  will  not  deceive  you.  He  must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all 
enemies  under  his  feet.  The  religion  of  Jesus  is  not  the  religion  of  one 
age  or  of  one  nation.  It  is  a  train  of  light  first  put  in  motion  by  God, 
and  which  will  continue  to  move  and  to  spread  till  it  has  filled  the 
whole  earth  with  its  glory.  Its  blessings  will  descend,  and  its  influ- 
ence will  be  felt,  to  the  latest  generations.  Uninterrupted  in  its  course, 
and  boundless  in  its  extent,  it  will  not  be  limited  by  time  or  space. 
The  earth  is  too  narrow  for  the  display  of  its  effects  and  the  accom^ 
plishment  of  its  purposes.  It  points  forward  to  an  eternity.  The 
great  Redeemer  will  again  appear  upon  the  earth  as  the  judge  and 
ruler  of  it ;  will  send  forth  his  angels,  and  gather  his  elect  from  the 
four  winds ;  will  abolish  sin,  and  death,  and  hell,  and  will  place  the 
righteous  for  ever  in  the  presence  of  his  God  and  their  God,  of  his 
Father  and  their  Father.  If  such  be  our  religion,  what  manner  of 
persons  ought  we  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness?  You 
are  conscious  that  a  mere  belief  of  the  Christian  revelation  will  not 
purify  the  heart  or  regulate  the  conduct.  We  may  calmly  assent  to 
the  most  interesting  and  solemn  truths  of  Christianity,  and  afterward 
suffer  them  to  slide  out  of  our  minds  without  leaving  any  impression 
behind  them.  If  we  look  back  upon  the  usual  course  of  our  feelings, 
we  shall  find  that  we  are  more  influenced  by  the  frequent  recurrence 
of  objects  than  by  their  weight  and  importance ;  and  that  habit  has 
more  force  in  forming  our  characters  than  our  opinions  have.  The 
mind  naturally  takes  its  tone  and  complexion  from  what  it  habitually 
contemplates.  Hence  it  is  that  the  world,  by  continually  pressing 
upon  our  senses,  and  being  ever  open  to  our  view,  takes  so  wide  a 
sway  in  the  heart.  How,  think  you,  dear  brethren,  must  we  correct 
this  influence,  and  by  faith  overcome  the  world,  unless  we  habhually 
turn  our  attention  to  religion  and  eternity  ?  Let  us  beseech  you  then 
to  make  them  familiar  with  your  minds,  and  mingle  them  with  the 
ordinary  stream  of  your  thoughts :  retiring  often  from  the  world,  and 
conversing  with  God  and  your  own  souls.  In  these  solemn  moments, 
nature,  and  the  shifting  scenes  of  it,  will  retire  from  your  view,  and 
you  will  feel  yourselves  left  alone  with  God  ;  you  will  walk  as  in  his 
sight ;  you  will  stand,  as  it  were,  at  his  tribunal.  Illusions  will  then 
vanish  apace,  and  every  thing  will  appsar  in  its  true  proportion  and 
proper  colour.     You  will  estimate  human  life,  and  the  worth  of  it,  not 


THE  CHRISTIAN  DisPElS  SATION.  231 

by  fleeting  and  momentary  sensations,  but  by  the  light  of  serious  reflec- 
tion and  steady  faith.  You  will  see  little  in  tlie  past  to  please,  or  in 
the  future  to  flatter :  its  feverish  dreams  will  subside,  and  its  enchant- 
ment be  dissolved.  It  is  much,  however,  if  faith  do  not,  upon  such 
occasions,  draw  aside  the  veil  which  rests  on  futurity,  and  cut  short 
the  interval  of  expectation.  How  often  has  she  borne  aloft  the  spirits 
of  good  men,  and  given  them  a  vision  of  better  days  and  brighter 
hopes  !  They  have  entered  already  the  rest  which  remained  for  them  ; 
they  have  come  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  to  the  spirits  of 
the  just  made  perfect,  and  to  God  the  judge  of  all.  From  these  seasons 
of  retirement  and  religious  meditation  you  will  return  to  the  active 
scenes  of  life  with  greater  advantage.  From  the  presence  of  God  you 
will  come  forth  with  your  passions  more  composed,  your  thoughts 
better  regulated,  and  your  heart  more  steady  and  pure.  Do  not 
imagine  that  the  benefit  of  such  exercises  is  confined  to  the  moments 
which  are  spent  in  them ;  for  as  the  air  retains  the  smell,  and  is  filled 
with  the  fragrance  of  leaves  which  have  been  long  shed,  so  will  these 
meditations  leave  a  sweet  and  refreshing  influence  behind  them. 

If  your  religion  be  genuine,  it  will  be  often  the  source  of  the  warmest 
and  most  interesting  feelings.  It  will  be  a  spring  of  consolation 
within,  which  will  often  be  full,  and  pour  itself  forth.  If  the  gospel 
has  not  taken  a  share  in  the  feelings  of  our  hearts,  if  it  has  not  moved 
the  great  springs  of  our  hopes  and  fears,  we  may  be  assured  we  have 
never  experienced  its  force.  It  is  filled  with  such  views  as  cannot 
fail  to  interest  and  transport  us.  Besides,  if  we  do  not  feel  the  gospel 
as  well  as  believe  it,  how  can  it  support  against  \he  overwhelming 
influence  of  what  we  do  feel  ?  The  world  steals  upori  us,  and  engages 
our  aflfections  on  all  sides.  Its  prospects  enrapture,  and  its  pleasures 
are  seducing  us.  Will  a  religion  which  rests  only  upon  opinion,  and 
a  conviction  at  times  extorted  from  us,  keep  us  firm  against  those 
assaults,  and  stem  the  force  of  a  torrent  which  never  ceases  to  flow  1 
This  can  be  done  only  by  opposing  hope  to  hope,  feeling  to  feeling, 
and  pleasure  to  pleasure. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  Christianity  does  not  more 
purify  our  hearts  is,  that  we  are  apt  to  confine  it  to  seasons  of  worship, 
and  to  shut  it  out  from  the  ordinary  concerns  of  life.  It  is  a  great  and 
fatal  mistake  to  imagine  them  so  separate  that  we  can  innocently  and 
usefully  engage  in  the  one  without  any  regard  had  to  the  other.  Our 
temporal  affairs  should  never,  indeed,  be  suffered  to  mingle  with  the 
exercises  of  religion ;  but  religion  should  always  regulate  the  conduct 
of  our  temporal  affairs.  And  the  reason  of  this  is  obvious.  The 
world  and  the  fashion  of  it  is  passing  away,  and  our  union  with  it  will 
soon  be  dissolved  ;  while  the  relation  which  we  bear  to  God  and  to 
eternity  is  ever  the  same,  and  extends  to  all  times  and  to  all  places 
The  character  which,  as  Christians,  we  sustain  is  our  high  character ; 
and  the  hopes  which,  as  such,  we  indulge  are  our  high  hopes.  It  is 
but  reasonable,  it  is  but  just,  therefore,  that  a  desire  of  discharging 
the  one  and  attaining  the  other  should  sway  the  whole  of  our  conduct, 
Perhaps  you  will  be  ready  to  think  that  this  advice  is  impracticable 


232        EXCELLENCY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  DISPENSATION. 

You  will  urge  the  necessity  of  attending  to  your  worldly  callings, 
whii-li,  vou  will  say,  cannot  be  carried  on  unless  you  give  them  the 
greater  part  of  your  time  and  attention.  Be  it  so.  Remember,  we  do 
not  advise  you  to  spend  more  of  your  time  in  religion  tlian  in  your 
ordinary  concerns.  This  would  extinguish  all  human  industry.  But 
if  you  be  sincere  in  your  profession  of  religion  you  Avill  regulate  your 
pursuits  by  it,  and  engage  no  farther  in  any  of  them  than  is  consistent 
with  the  spirit  of  it.  In  the  midst  of  all  your  other  concerns  you  will 
still  make  religion  the  centre  of  your  hopes  and  the  consummation  of 
your  wishes.  An  ordinary  mechanic  devotes  more  of  his  time  to  the 
labour  of  his  hands  than  to  any  other  concern ;  but  it  is  not  his 
laborious  employment  that  interests  his  heart ;  it  is  his  desire  of  pro- 
curing subsistenae  and  of  warding  off  the  inconveniences  of  poverty 
and  want. 

Finally,  brethren,  let  each  of  us  examine  ourselves  whether  we  be 
in  the  faith  or  not ;  let  us  not  shrink  from  the  severest  test  to  which 
conscience  and  the  word  of  God  can  put  us.  If  we  be,  indeed,  found 
sincere,  after  thus  searching  our  hearts,  our  faith  will  grow  more  firm 
and  our  consolations  more  steady ;  or  if  it  appear  that  we  have  been 
hitherto  deceivmg  and  deceived,  (awful  idea!)  we  shall  at  least  have 
an  opportunity  of  once  more  lifting  up  our  eyes  for  mercy,  and  of  read- 
ing our  danger  in  our  sin,  not  in  our  punishment.  But  tee  hope  better 
things  of  you,  brethren,  and  things  which  accompany  salvation.  We 
hope  that  you  have  ^edfrom  the  wrath  to  come,  and  have  laid  hold  on 
eternal  life;  and  we  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  meeting  you  in  a  much 
larger  assembly  at  the  great  day,  when  you  shall  have  washed  your 
robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Then,  brought 
out  of  much  tribulation,  and  redeemed  from  every  nation,  and  tongue,  and 
people,  his  elect  shall  be  gathered,  he  shall  give  up  the  kingdom  to  his 
Qod,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all.  Alas  !  the  voice  of  individual  praise 
is  weak  and  feeble ;  but  how  will  our  hearts  swell  with  adoration  and 
delight,  when,  while  we  are  praising  him,  he  shall  receive  from  millions 
of  Deings  and  millions  of  worlds  the  same  incense  ! 


ON  THE   WORK  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT: 

THE 

CIRCULAR    LETTER 

FROM   THE 

MINISTERS  AND  MESSENGERS  OF  THE  SEVERAL 
BAPTIST  CHURCHES 

OF    THE 


[Wbitten  in  1809.] 


ON  THE 

WORK  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT. 


i>EAR  Brethren, 
•Tilt  subject  to  which  we  would  invite  your  attention  on  the  present 
occasivyn  is  the  influence  of  the  Spirit ;  which  it  is  not  our  design  to 
discusb  in  a  doctrinal  manner  (taking  it  for  granted  you  are  already 
establibhed  in  the  belief  of  a  divine  agency  on  the  soul,  and  have  a 
competent  acquaintance  with  its  nature  and  effects),  but  rather  with 
a  view  to  assist  you  in  making  a  suitable  improvement  of  what  you 
already  acknowledge  and  believe.  Assuming  it  on  the  ground  of 
revelation  for  an  undoubted  fact,  that  there  is  an  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  which  the  regeneration  and  growth  in  holiness  of  every  Chris- 
tian is  to  be  primarily  imputed,  and  that  without  it  nothing  can  be 
done  or  attained  to  any  important  purpose  in  religion, — we  request 
your  candid  attention  to  a  few  hints  respecting  the  most  likely  method 
of  securing  and  perpetuating  that  blessed  influence.  To  this  we  are 
the  more  encouraged  by  remarking  the  numerous  cautions,  warnings, 
and  advices  with  which  the  mention  of  this  subject  is  joined  in  the 
sacred  writings ;  sufficient  to  show  that  the  doctrine  of  which  it  treats 
is  a  practical  doctrine,  not  designed  to  supersede  the  use  of  means  or 
the  exercise  of  our  rational  powers  ;.but  rather  to  stimulate  us  to  ex- 
ertion, and  teach  us  how  to  exert  them  aright.  If  1/e  live  in  the  Spirit, 
walk  in  the  Spirit.  Grieve  not  the  holy  Spirit  of  God,  hy  which  ye 
are  sealed  to  the  day  of  redemption. 

The  Spirit,  we  must  remember,  is  a  most  free  agent,  and  though 
he  will  not  utterly  forsake  the  work  of  his  hands,  he  may  be  expected 
to  withdraw  himself  in  a  great  measure  on  being  slighted,  neglected, 
or  opposed ;  and  as  our  holiness  and  comfort  depend  entirely  upon 
him,  it  is  important  for  us  to  know  what  deportment  is  calculated  to 
invite  and  what  to  repel  his  presence. 

1.  If  we  would  wish  for  much  of  the  presence  of  God  by  his  Spirit, 
we  must  learn  to  set  a  high  value  upon  it.  The  first  communication 
of  spiritual  influence  is,  indeed,  imparted  without  this  requisite ;  for  it 
can  only  be  possessed  in  any  adequate  degree  by  those  who  have 
tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious.  /  am  found  of  them  that  sought  me 
not.  But  in  subsequent  donations  the  Lord  seems  very  nuich  to  regiz- 
late  his  conduct  by  a  nde, — that  if  bestowing  his  richest  favours  where 
he  knows  they  are  most  coveted,  and  will  be  most  prized     The  prin* 


236  ON  THE  WORK  OP 

ciple  wlience  divine  communications  flow  is  free,  unmerited  benignity  j 
but  in  the  mode  of  dispensing  its  fruits,  it  is  worthy  of  the  Supreme 
RiiUt  to  consuh  Iiis  inajcsty,  by  withholding  a  copious  supply  till  he 
has  oxrited  in  the  heart  a  profound  estimation  of  his  gifts. 

No  words  are  adequate  to  express  the  excellence  and  dignity  of  the 
gift  of  i!ie  divine  Spirit.  While  Solomon  was  dedicating  the  temple, 
his  great  soul  appears  to  have  been  put  into  a  rapture  at  the  very  idea, 
that  lie  wtiom  the  heaven  of  heavens  could  not  contain  should  deign 
to  dwell  with  man  upon  the  earth.  How  much  more  should  each  of 
us  be  transported  when  he  finds  the  idea  realized,  by  his  own  heart 
having  become  the  seat  of  the  divine  presence !  There  are  two  con- 
sideratioi]s  drawn  from  Scripture  which  assist  us  in  forming  a  concep- 
tion of  the  magnitude  of  this  blessing. 

The  first  is,  that  it  is  the  great  promise  of  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion, and  stands  in  nearly  the  same  relation  to  us  that  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah  did  to  pious  Jews.  They  vi'aited  for  the  consolation  of 
Israel  in  the  birth  of  Christ ;  and  now  that  event  is  past  we  are 
waiting  in  a  similar  manner  for  the  promise  of  the  Spirit,  of  which  the 
church  has  hitherto  enjoyed  but  the  first  fruits.  To  this  the  Saviour, 
after  his  resurrection,  pointed  the  expectation  of  his  apostles  as  em- 
phatically the  promise  of  the  Father,  which  they  were  to  receive  at 
the  distance  of  a  few  days  ;  and  when  it  was  accomplished  at  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  we  find  Peter  insisting  on  it  as  the  most  illustrious  proof 
of  his  ascension,  as  well  as  the  chief  fruit  that  converts  were  to  reap 
from  their  repentance  and  baptism.  Repent  and  be  baptized,  said  he, 
every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins, 
and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  for  the  promise  (that 
is,  the  promise  of  the  Spirit)  is  to  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all 
that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  your  God  shall  call.  The 
apostle  Paul  places  it  in  a  similar  light  when  he  tells  us,  Christ  has 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse  of  the  law,  having  been  made  a  curse  for 
us,  that  the  blessing  of  Abraham  might  come  upon  the  gentiles :  and 
in  what  that  blessing  consists  he  informs  us,  by  adding,  that  we  might 
receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  by  faith.  On  this  account,  probably, 
he  is  styled  the  Spirit  of  promise,  that  Spirit  of  promise,  the  Spirit  so 
often  promised ;  in  the  communication  of  whom  the  promises  of  God 
so  centre  that  it  may  be  considered  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  all 
the  promises. 

Another  consideration  which  evinces  the  supreme  importance  of  this 
gift  is,  that  in  the  esteem  of  our  Lord  it  was  more  than  a  compensa- 
tion to  his  disciples  for  the  loss  of  his  boddy  presence  ;  so  much  supe- 
rior to  it,  that  he  tells  them  it  Avas  expedient  he  should  leave  them  in 
order  to  make  way  for  it : — If  I  go  not  away,  the  Spirit  will  7iot  come  ; 
but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto  you.  Great  as  the  advantages 
they  derived  from  his  society  were,  they  yet  remained  in  a  state  of 
minority;  their  ^iews  were  contracted,  their  hearts  full  of  earthly 
adhesions,  and  a  degree  of  carnality  and  prejudice  attended  them, 
which  it  was  the  office  of  the  Spirit  only  to  remove.  From  his  more 
ample  and  effectual  teaching  a  great  increase  ot  knowledge  was  to 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  237 

accrue,  to  qualify  them  for  their  work  of  bearing  witness  to  Christ, 
and  a  poweri'ul  energy  to  go  forth  which  was  to  render  their  ministry, 
though  in  themselves  so  much  inferior,  far  more  successful  than  the 
personal  ministry  of  our  Lord.  In  consequence  of  his  agency,  the 
apostles  vvere  to  become  enlightened  and  intrepid,  and  the  world  con- 
vinced. /  have  many  things  to  say  to  you,  but  ye  cannot  hear  them 
now.  But  icJwn  the  Spirit  of  truth  is  come,  he  will  lead  you  into  all 
truth.  He  vnll  convince  the  ivorld  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judg- 
ment. Accordingly,  after  his  descent,  we  find  the  apostles  strangely 
transformed  :  an  unction,  a  fervour,  a  boldness  marked  their  char- 
acter lo  which  they  had  hitherto  been  strangers ;  and  such  conviction 
attended  their  preaching,  that  in  a  short  time  a  great  part  of  the  world 
sunk  under  the  weapons  of  their  holy  warfare  Nor  is  there  any  pre- 
tence for  alleging  that  this  communication  was  confined  to  miraculous 
gifts,  since  it  is  asserted  to  be  that  Spirit  which  should  abide  in  them 
for  ever,  and  by  which  the  church  should  be  distinguished  from  the 
world.  •  He  is  styled  the  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the  world  could  not 
receive,  because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him :  but,  it  is  added, 
ye  know  him,  for  he  dwelleth  in  you,  and  shall  be  in  you. 

As  we  are  indebted  to  the  Spirit  for  the  first  formation  of  the  divine 
life,  so  it  is  he  who  alone  can  maintain  it  and  render  it  strong  and 
vigorous.  It  is  his  oflice  to  actuate,  the  habits  of  grace  where  they 
are  already  planted ;  to  hold  our  souls  in  life,  and  to  strengthen  us 
that  lue  may  walk  up  and  down  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  It  is  his. 
office  to  present  the  mysteries  of  salvation,  the  truths  which  relate  to 
the  mediation  of  Christ  and  the  riches  of  his  grace,  in  so  penetrating 
and  transforming  a  manner  as  to  render  them  vital,  operating  princi- 
ples, the  food  and  the  solace  of  our  spirits.  Without  his  agency,  how- 
ever intrinsically  excellent,  they  will  to  us  be  mere  dead  speculation, 
an  inert  mass:  it  is  only  when  they  are  animated  by- his  breath  that 
they  become  spirit  and  life. 

It  is  his  office  to  afTord  that  anointing. by  which  we  may  know  all 
things ;  not  only  by  a  light  which  is  merely  directive  to  the  under- 
standing, but  which  so  shines  upon  the  heart  as  to  give  a  relish  of  the 
sweetness  of  divine  truth,  and  effectually  produce  a  compliance  with 
its  dictates.  It  belongs  to  him  to  seal  us  to  the  day  of  redemption' ;  to 
put  that  mark  and  character  upon  us  which  distinguishes  the  children 
of  God,  as  well  as  to  afford  a  foretaste  and  an  earnest  of  the  future 
mheritan(;e.  And  hereby,  saith  an  apostle,  we  know  that  we  are  of 
God,  by  the  Spirit  which  he  hath  given  us.  It  is  his  office  to  subdue 
the  corruption  of  our  nature,  not  by  leaving  us  inactive  spectators  of 
the  combat,  but  by  engaging  us  to  a  determined  resistance  to  every 
sinful  propensity,  by  teaching  our  hands  to  war  and  our- fingers  to 
fight,  so  that  the  victory  shall  be  ours  and  the  praise  his.  To  help  the 
infirmities  of  saints,  loho  know  not  what  to  pray  for  as  they  ought,  hy 
making  intercession  for  them  with  groanings  tvhich  cannot  be  uttered,  is 
an  important  branch  of  his  office.  He  kindles  their  desires,  gives 
them  a  glimpse  of  the  fulness  of  God,  that  all-comprehending  good ; 
and  by  exciting  a  relish  of  the  beauties  of  holiness,  and  the  ineffable 


238  ON  THE  WORK  OF 

pleasure  which  springs  from  nearness  to  God,  disposes  them  to  the 
fervent  and  elfectual  prayer  which  availeth  nnich.  In  short,  as  Christ 
is  the  wav,  so  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  Spirit  is  tlie  fountain  of  all 
the  liiihl  anil  strength  which  enable  us  to  walk  in  that  way.  Lest  it 
should  be  suspected  that  in  ascribing  so  much  to  the  agency  of  the 
Spirit  we  diminish  the  obligations  we  owe  to  the  Redeemer,  it  may 
not  be  improper  to  remark,  that  the  tendency  of  what  we  have  ad- 
vanced, rightly  understood,  will  be  just  the  contrary,  since  the  Scrip- 
tures constantly  remind  us  that  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  fruit 
of  his  mediation  and  the  purchase  of  his  death.  It  was  his  inter- 
posing as  Emanuel,  God  with  us,  to  repair  the  breach  between  man 
and  God,  that  prevailed  upon  the  Father  to  communicate  the  Spirit  to 
such  as  believe  on  him,  and  to  intrust  the  whole  agency  of  it  to  his 
hands.  As  the  reward  of  his  sufferings  he  ascended  on  high,  and 
received  gifis  for  men,  of  which  the  right  of  bestowing  the  Spirit  is  the 
principal,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them.  The  bestow- 
raent,  in  every  instance,  through  the  successive  periods  of  the  church, 
looks  back  to  the  death  of  the  Redeemer  as  the  root  and  principle 
whence  it  takes  its  rise,  and  consequently  is  calculated  to  enlarge  our 
conceptions  of  his  office  and  character,  as  the  copiousness  of  the  streams 
evinces  the  exuberance  of  the  fountain.  To  him  the  Spirit  was  first 
given  above  measure ;  in  him  it  resides  as  in  an  inexhaustible  spring, 
to  be  imparted  in  the  dispensation  of  his  gospel  to  every  member  of 
his  mystical  body,  in  pursuance  of  the  purpose  of  his  grace,  and  the 
ends  of  his  death.  It  is  his  Spirit,  called  the  supply  of  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  Jesus,  not  only  by  reason  of  the  essential  union  which  subsists 
between  the  persons  of  the  Godhead,  but  because  the  right  of  bestow- 
ing it  was  ascertained  to  him  m  the  covenant  of  redemption. 

2.  If  we  would  wish  to  enjoy  much  of  the  light  and  influence  of  the 
Spirit,  we  must  seek  it  by  fervent  prayer.  There  are  peculiar  encour- 
agements held  out  in  the  word  of  God  to  this  purpose.  Ask,  and  ye 
shall  receive  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened 
unto  you.  To  illustrate  the  readiness  of  our  heavenly  Father  to  bestow 
this  blessing,  our  Lord  borrows  a  comparison  from  the  instinct  of 
parental  affection,  which  prompts  a  parent  to  give  with  alacrity  good 
things  to  his  children.  He  will  not  merely  supply  his  w^ants,  which 
benevolence  might  prompt  him  to  do  with  respect  to  a  stranger,  but  he 
will  do  it  with  feelings  peculiar  to  the  parental  relation,  and  will  expe- 
rience as  much  pleasure  in  conferring  as  the  child  in  receiving  his 
favours.  It  is  thus  with  our  neavenly  Father :  he  delights  in  exer- 
cising kindness  to  his  children,  and  especially  in  promoting  their  spir- 
itual welfare.  He  gives  not  merely  with  the  liberality  of  a  prince,  but 
with  the  heart  of  a  father.  It  is  worth  remarking,  that  in  relating  the 
preceding  discourse,  while  one  evangehst  makes  express  mention  of 
the  Spirit,  another  speaks  only  of  good  things,  intimating  that  the 
commimications  of  the  Spirit  comprehend  whatever  is  good.  Other 
things  may  or  may  not  be  ultimately  benelicial :  they  are  either  of  a 
doubtful  nature  in  themselves,  or  are  rendered  so  by  the  propensity 
our  corruption  gives  us  to  abuse  them.     But  the  influence  of  the  Spirit, 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  239 

by  its  efficacy  in  subduing  that  corruption,  must  be  invariably  beneficial : 
it  is  such  an  immediate  emanation  from  God,  the  fountain  of  blessed- 
ness, that  it  can  never  fail  of  being  intrinsically,  essentially,  and  eter- 
nally good.  It  is  also  deserving  our  attention,  that  the  injunction  of 
seeking  it  by  prayer  is  prefaced  by  a  parable  constructed  on  purpose 
to  teach  us  the  propriety  of  urging  our  suit  with  importunity.  In  im- 
ploring other  gifts  (which  we  are  at  liberty  to  do  with  submission,)  it 
is  still  a  great  point  of  duty  to  moderate  our  desires,  and  to  be  pre- 
pared for  a  disappointment,  because,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  it 
is  possible  the  things  we  are  seeking  may  neither  conduce  to  the  glory 
of  God  nor  to  our  ultimate  benefit ,  for  who  knoweth  what  is  good  for 
a  man  all  the  days  of  this  his  vain  life  1  But  when  we  present  our 
requests  for  a  larger  measure  of  his  grace  we  labour  under  no  such 
uncertainty,  we  may  safely  let  forth  all  the  ardour  and  vehemence  of 
our  spirits,  since  our  desires  are  fixed  upon  what  is  the  very  knot  and 
juncture  where  the  honour  of  God  and  the  interests  of  his  creatures 
are  indissolubly  united.  Desires  after  grace  are,  in  fact,  desires  after 
God  ;  and  how  is  it  possible  they  can  be  too  vehement  or  intense,  when 
directed  to  such  an  object?  His  gracious  presence  is  not  like  the 
limited  goods  of  this  life,  fitted  to  a  particular  crisis,  or  adapted  to  a 
special  exigency  in  a  fluctuating  scene  of  things ;  it  is  alike  suited  to 
all  times  and  seasons,  the  food  of  souls,  the  proper  good  of  man  under 
every  aspect  of  Providence,  and  even  the  exchange  of  worlds.  My 
soul,  said  David,  panteth  after  God,  yea,  for  the  living  God.  My  soul 
followeth  hard  after  thee :  thy  right  hand  upholdeth  me.  The  most 
eminent  effusions  of  the  Spirit  we  read  of  in  Scripture  were  not  only 
afforded  to  prayer,  but  appear  to  have  taken  place  at  the  very  time 
that  exercise  was  performed.  The  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  at  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  was  while  the  disciples  were  with  one  accord  in  one 
place  ;  and  after  the  imprisonment  of  Peter  and  John,  who  being  dis- 
missed, went  to  their  own  company,  While  they  prayed,  the  place  where 
they  -were  assembled  was  shaken  with  a  mighty  wind,  and  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  When  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit  are 
promised  in  Ezekiel,  it  is  added,  I  will  yet  for  this  be  inquired  of  by 
the  house  of  Israel,  to  do  it  for  them. 

3.  Habitual  dependence  on  divine  influence  is  an  important  duty. 
This  may  be  considered  as  opposed  to  two  things ;  first,  to  dependmg 
on  ourselves,  to  the  neglect  of  divine  agency;  next,  to  despondency 
and  distrust.  When  the  Holy  Spirit  has  condescended  to  take  the 
conduct  of  souls,  it  is  unquestionably  great  presumption  to  enter  upon 
duty  in  the  same  manner  as  if  no  such  assistance  were  needed  or  to  be 
expected ;  and  the  result  will  be  as  with  Samson  who  said,  /  ivill  go 
forth  and  shake  myself,  as  in  time  past,  while  he  wist  not  that  the  Lord 
was  departed  from  him.  It  is  one  thing  to  acknowledge  a  dependence 
on  heavenly  influence  in  speculation,  and  another  thing  so  to  realize 
and  to  feel  it  as  to  say  from  the  heart,  /  tcill  go  in  the  strength  of  the 
Lord  God.  A  mere  assent  to  this  proposition,  that  the  Spirit  must 
concur  in  the  production  of  every  good  work  (an  assent  not  easily 
withheld  without  rejecting  the  Scriptures),  falls  very  short  of  the  prac- 


240  ON  THE  WORK  OF 

tical  homage  due  from  feeble  worms  to  so  great  an' Agent ;  »nd  a  most 
solemn  and  explicit  acknowledgment  of  entire  dependence  may 
reasonably  be  expected.  When  you  engage  in  prayer  or  in  any  other 
dutv,  ondeavour  to  enter  upon  it  with  a  serious  and  deliberate  recollec- 
tion of  your  neeil  of  the  Spirit.  Let  the  consciousness  of  your  wealc- 
ness  and  insufliciency  for  every  good  work  be  a  sentiment  rendered 
familiar  to  your  minds  and  deeply  impressed  on  your  hearts. 

But  while  we  recommend  this,  there  is  another  extreme  against 
which  we  think  it  our  duty  to  guard  you,  and  that  is,  a  disposition  to 
despondency  and  distrust.  We  are  most  ready  to  acknowledge  that 
the  assistance  you  need  is  most  free  and  gratuitous,  neither  given  to 
our  deservings  nor  flowing  from  any  natural  connexion  subsisting 
between  our  endeavours  and  the  .exertion  of  divme  agency.  The 
Spirit  of  God  is  a  free  Spirit ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how 
either  faith  or  prayer  should  have  an  intrinsic  efficacy  in  drawing 
down  influence  from  heaven.  There  is,  however,  a  connexion  estab- 
lished by  divine  vouchsafement,  which  entitles  believers  to  expect,  in 
the  use  of  means,  such  measures  of  gracious  assistance  as  are  requisite 
to  sustain  and  support  them  in  their  religious  course.  The  Spirit  is 
spoken  of  as  the  matter  of  promise  to  which  every  Christian  is  encour- 
aged to  look  :  the  promise  is  to  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  as 
many  as  the  Lord  your  God  shall  call.  Agreeable  to  this,  it  is  repre- 
sented as  the  express  purpose  of  Christ's  becoming  a  curse  for  us, 
that  the  promise  of  the  Spirit  might  come  on  the  gentiles  through  faith. 
The  same  expectation  is  justified  by  the  Saviour's  own  declaration, 
when  on  the  last  and  great  day  of  the  feast  he  stood  and  cried.  Who- 
ever is  athirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink  ;  for  he  that  believeth 
on  me,  out  of  his  belly  shall  flow  rivers-  of  living  water.  This,  says  the 
evangelist,  he  spoke  of  the  Spirit,  whi':h  they  that  believe  on  him  should 
receive. 

The  readiness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  i^ommunicate  himself  to  true 
beUevers  is  also  evinced  by  the  tenor  of  evangelical  precepts :  be  ye 
strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  Ids  might.  To  command  a 
person  to  be  strong  seems  strange  and  unusual  language,  but  is  suffi- 
ciently explained  when  we  reflect,  that  a  portion  of  spiritual  power  is 
ready  to  be  communicated  to  those  who  duly  seek  it :  he  ye  filled  with 
the  Spirit,  which  is  the  exhortation  of  the  same  apostle,  takes  it  for 
granted  that  a  copious  supply  is  at  hand,  sufficient  to  satiate  the  desires 
of  the  saints.  We  are  at  a  loss  to  account  for  such  precepts,  without 
supposing  an  established  connexion  betv/een  the  condition  of  believers 
and  the  further  communication  of  divine  influence.  To  the  same  pur- 
pose Paul  speaks  with  apostolic  authority,  this  I  say,  ivalk  in  the  Spirit, 
and  ye  shall  not  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  fiesh ;  and  Jude  inculcaties  the 
duty  of  praying  in  the  Spirit,  which  would  be  strange  if  no  assistance 
were  to  be  obtained ;  and  as  prayer  is  a  duty  of  daily  occurrence,  the 
injunction  implies  that  it  is  ready  to  be  imparted  to  Christians,  not  by 
fits  and  starts,  or  at  distant  intervals,  but  in  a  stated,  regular  course. 

For  this  reason,  when  we  hear  Christians  complaining  of  the  habitual 
withdrawment  of  the  divine  presence,  we  are  under  the  necessity  of 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  24i 

dscribing  it  to  their  own  fault :  not  that  we  mean  to  deny  there  is  much 
of  sovereignty  in  this  afl'air,  or  that  the  Spirit,  like  the  wind,  bloweth 
where  it  listeth.  But  it  should  be  remembered,  we  are  now  adverting 
to  the  situation  of  real  believers,  who  are  entitled  to  the  promise  ;  and 
though  it  is  probable  there  is  much  of  sovereignty  exercised  even  with 
respect  to  them,  we  apprehend  it  rather  concerns  those  influences 
which  are  consolatory  than  such  as  are  sanctifying ;  though  there  is  a 
degree  of  satisfaction  intermingled  with  every  exercise  of  genuine 
piety,  yet  it  is  manifest  some  influences  of  the  Spirit  tend  more  imme- 
diately to  comfort,  others  to  purification.  Some  are  engaged  in  the 
fixed  contemplation  of  objects  which  exist  out  of  ourselves,  the  perfec- 
tions of  God,  the  excellency  of  Christ,  the  admirable  constitution  of 
the  gospel,  accompanied  with  a  delightful  conviction  of  a  personal 
interest  in  whatever  comes  under  our  view  ;  the  natural  fruit  of  which 
\sjay  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  By  others,  we  are  more  immedi- 
ately impressed  with  a  lasting  sense  of  our  extreme  unworthiness,  and 
made  to  mourn  over  remaining  corruption  and  the  criminal  defects 
inherent  in  our  best  services. 

In  the  midst  of  such  exercises,  it  is  possible  hope  may  languish  and 
comfort  be  reduced  to  a  low  ebb,  yet  the  divine  life  may  be  still 
advancing  and  the  soul  growing  in  humility,  deadness  to  the  world, 
and  the  mortification  of  her  own  will,  as  the  sap  during  winter  retires 
to  the  root  of  the  plant,  ready  to  ascend  and  produce  verdure  and 
beauty  on  the  return  of  spring.  This  is  the  will  of  God,  even  our 
sanctification ;  and  though  he  delights  in  comforting  his  people  ai  pro- 
per seasons,  he  is  much  less  intent  on  this  than  in  promoting  their 
spiritual  improvement,  to  which,  in  this  their  probationary  state,  every 
thing  is  made  subservient.  Let  us  not  then  confound  the  decay  of 
consolation  with  the  decay  of  piety,  nor  imagine  we  can  want  the  aids 
necessary  to  prevent  the  latter,  unless  we  have  forfeited  them  by  pre- 
sumption, negligence,  and  sloth.  Whenever  Christians  sensibly  decline 
in  religion,  they  ought  to  charge  themselves  with  the  guilt  of  having 
grieved  the  Spirit ;  they  should  take  the  alarm,  repent  and  do  their 
first  works ;  they  are  suffering  under  the  rebukes  of  that  paternal 
justice  which  God  exercises  in  his  own  family.  Such  a  measure  of 
gracious  assistance  in  the  use  of  means,  being  by  the  tenor  of  the 
new  covenant  ascertained,  io  real  Christians,  as  is  requisite  for  their 
comfortable  walk  with  God,  to  find  it  withheld  should  engage  them  in 
deep  searchings  of  heart,  and  make  them  fear  lest  a  promise  being  left 
them  of  entering  into  rest,  they  should  appear  to  come  short  of  it.  But 
this  leads  us  to  observe,  in  the  last  place,  that, 

4.  If  we  wish  to  enjoy  the  light  of  the  Spirit,  we  must  take  care  to 
maintain  a  deportment  suited  to  the  character  of  that  divine  agent. 
When  the  apostle  exhorts  us  not  to  grieve  the  Spirit  of  God,  by  which 
we  are  sealed  to  the  day  of  redemption,  it  is  forcibly  implied  that  he  is 
susceptible  of  ofi"ence,  and  that  to  offend  him  involves  heinous  ingrati- 
tude and  folly  :  ingratitude,  for  what  a  requital  is  this  for  being  sealed 
to  the  day  of  redemption  !  and  folly,  inasmuch  as  we  may  fitly  say  on 
this,  as  Paul  did  on  a  different  occasion.  Who  is  he  that  maketh  us  gladu 

Vol.  L— Q 


242  ON  THE  WORK  OF 

but  the  soma  that  is  made  sorry  hy  us  ?  Have  w  e  any  other  comforter 
when  he  is  withdrawn?  Is  there  a  single  ray  of  light  can  visit  us  in 
his  absence,  or  can  we  be  safe  for  a  moment  witliout  his  guidance  and 
support  I  If  the  immense  and  infinite  Spirit,  by  a  mysterious  conde- 
scension, deigns  to  take  the  conduct  of  a  worm,  ought  it  not  to  yield 
the  most  imjilicit  submission  ?  The  appropriate  duty  owing  to  a  faith- 
ful and  experienced  guide  is  a  ready  compliance  with  his  dictates  ;  and 
how  much  more  may  this  be  expected  when  the  disparity  between  the 
parties  in  question  is  no  less  than  infinite  ?  The  language  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  describing  the  manners  of  the  ancient  Israelites,  is  awfully 
monitory  to  professors  of  religion  in  every  age  ;  they  rebelled  and  vexed 
his  Holy  Spirit,  therefore  he  turned  to  be  their  enemy,  and  fought  against 
them.  As  we  wish  to  avoid  whatever  is  more  curious  than  useful,  we 
shall  not  stay  to  inquire,  precisely  on  what  occasions  or  to  what  extent 
the  Spirit  is  capable  of  being  resisted :  it  may  be  sufficient  to  observe, 
it  is  evident  from  melancholy  experience  that  it  is  very  possible  to 
neglect  what  is  the  obvious  tendency  of  his  motions,  which  is  invaria- 
bly to  produce  universal  holiness.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy, 
peace,  long-suffering,  goodness,  meekness,  gentleness ,  temperance,  faith  : 
whatever  is  contrary  to  these  involves  an  opposition  to  the  Spirit,  and 
is  directly  calculated  to  quench  his  sacred  influence.  From  his 
descending  on  Christ  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  as  well  as  from  many 
express  declarations  of  Scripture,  we  may  with  certainty  conclude  the 
indulgence  of  all  the  irascible  and  malignant  passions  to  be  peculiarly 
repugnant  to  his  nature ;  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the  injunction  of 
not  grieving  the  Holy  Spirit  is  immediately  followed  by  a  particular 
caution  against  cherishing  such  dispositions  ;  let  all  bitterness  and 
wrath,  and  anger,  and  clamour,  and  evil  speaking  be  put  away  from 
you,  with  all  malice.  And  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender  hearted, 
forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God  for  Chrisfs  sake  hath  forgiven  you. 
Have  you  not  found  by  experience  that  the  indulgence  of  the  former 
has  destroyed  that  self-recollection  and  composure  which  are  so 
essential  to  devotion  ?  Vindictive  passions  surround  the  soul  with  a 
sort  of  turbulent  atmosphere,  than  which  nothing  can  be  conceived 
more  opposite  to  that  calm  and  holy  light  in  which  the  blessed  Spirit 
loves  to  dwell.  The  indulgence  of  sensual  lusts,  or  of  whatever 
enslaves  the  soul  to  the  appetites  of  the  body,  in  violation  of  the  rules 
of  sobriety  and  chastity,  it  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  add,  must 
have  a  direct  tendency  to  quench  his  sacred  influences  ;  wherever  such 
desires  prevail,  they  war  against  the  soul,  immerse  it  in  carnality,  and 
utterly  indispose  it  to  every  thing  spiritual  and  heavenly.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit;  it  bears  a  resemblance  to  its  Author  in 
being  a  spiritual  production,  which  requires  to  be  nourished  by  divine 
meditation,  by  pure  and  holy  thoughts. 

If  you  wish  to  live  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  you  must  guard 
with  no  less  care  against  the  encroachments  of  worldly-mindedness, 
recollecting  we  are  Christians  just  as  far  as  our  treasures  and  our 
hearts  are  placed  in  heaven  and  no  farther.  A  heart  overcharged 
with  the  cares  of  this  world  is  as  disqualified  for  converse  with  God. 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  243 

and  for  walking  in  the  Spirit,  as  by  surfeiting  and  drunkenness ;  to 
which,  by  their  tendency  to  intoxicate  and  stupify,  they  bear  a  great 
resembhuice. 

How  many,  by  an  immoderate  attachment  to  wealth  and  by  being 
determined  at  all  events  to  become  rich,  havefallev  into  divers  foolish 
and  hurtful  lusts,  and  pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sorrows ! 
and  where  the  result  has  not  been  so  signally  disastrous,  a  visible 
languor  in  religion  has  ensued,  the  friendship  of  serious  Christians 
been  shunned,  and  the  public  ordinances  of  religion  attended  with  little 
fruit  or  advantage.  As  it  is  the  design  of  the  Spirit,  in  his  sacred 
visitations,  to  form  us  for  an  habitual  converse  with  spiritual  and 
eternal  objects,  nothing  can  tend  more  directly  to  contract  it  than  to 
bury  our  souls  in  earth :  it  is  as  impossible  for  the  eye  of  the  mind 
as  for  that  of  the  body  to  look  opposite  ways  at  once ;  nor  can  we 
aim  at  the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal,  but  by  losing  sight  of 
those  which  are  unseen  and  are  eternal. 

But  though  a  general  attention  to  the  duties  of  piety  and  virtue,  and 
careful  avoidance  of  the  sins  opposed  to  these,  is  certainly  included  in 
a  becoming  deportment  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  perhaps  it  is  not  all  that  is 
included.  The  children  of  God  are  characterized  in  Scripture  by  their 
being  led  by  the  Spirit:  led,  evidently  not  impelled,  not  driven  forward 
in  a  headlong  course,  without  choice  or  design  ;  but  being,  by  the  con- 
stitution of  their  nature,  rational  and  intelligent,  and  by  the  influence 
of  grace  rendered  spiritual,  they  are  disposed  to  obey  at  a  touch,  and 
to  comply  with  the  gentler  insinuations  of  divine  grace  ;  they  are  ready 
to  take  that  precise  impression  which  corresponds,  with  the  mind  and 
purpose  of  the  Spirit.  You  are  aware  of  what  consequence  it  is  in 
worldly  concerns  to  embrace  opportunities  and  to  improve  critical 
seasons ;  and  thus,  in  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  there  are  times  pecu- 
liarly favourable,  moments  of  happy  visitation,  where  much  more 
may  be  done  towards  the  advancement  of  our  spiritual  intei'est  than 
usual.  These  are  gales  of  the  Spirit,  unexpected  influences  of  light 
and  of  power,  which  no  assiduity  in  the  means  of  grace  can  command, 
but  which  it  is  a  great  point  of  wisdom  to  improve.  If  the  husband- 
man is  attentive  to  the  vicissitudes  of  weather  and  the  face  of  the  sky, 
that  he  may  be  prepared  to  take  the  full  benefit  of  every  gleam  of  sun- 
shine and  every  falling  shower,  how  much  more  alert  and  attentive 
should  we  be  in  watching  for  those  influences  from  above  which  are 
necessary  to  ripen  and  mature  a  far  more  precious  crop !  As  the 
natural  consequence  of  being  long  under  the  guidance  of  another  is  a 
quick  perception  of  his  meanmg,  so  that  we  can  meet  his  wishes  before 
they  are  verbally  expressed,  something  of  this  ready  discernment, 
accompanied  with  instant  compliance,  may  reasonably  be  expected 
from  those  who  profess  to  be  habitually  led  by  the  Spirit. 

The  design  of  his  operation  is  in  one  view  invariably  the  same — the 
production  of  holiness ;  but  the  branches  of  which  that  consists  and 
the  exercises  of  mind  which  are  rendered  subservient  to  it  are  various ; 
and  he  who  is  intent  on  walking  in  the  Spirit  will  be  careful  to  fall  in 
with  that  train  of  thought  and  cherish  that  cast  of  reflection  to  which 

Q2 


244  ON  THE  WORK  OF 

he  is  especially  invited.  For  want  of  more  docility  in  this  respect  it 
is  probiiblo  we  have  often  sustained  loss.  Permit  us  here  to  suggest 
two  or  tlu-ee  heads  of  inquiry.  You  have  sometimes  felt  a  peculiar 
seriousness  of  mind ;  the  delusive  glare  of  worldly  objects  has  faded 
away,  or  become  dim  before  your  eyes,  and  death  and  eternity,  appear- 
ing at  the  door,  have  filled  the  whole  field  of  vision.  Have  you  im- 
proved such  seasons  for  fixing  those  maxims  and  establishing  those 
practical  conclusions  which  may  produce  an  habitual  sobriety  of  mind, 
when  things  appear  under  a  different  aspect  ?  You  have  sometimes 
lound,  instead  of  a  reluctance  to  pray,  a  powerful  persuasion  to  that 
exercise,  so  that  you  felt  as  if  you  could  do  nothing  else.  Have 
you  always  complied  with  these  motions,  and  suffered  nothing  but  the 
claims  of  absolute  necessity  to  divert  you  from  pouring  out  your  hearts 
at  the  tlirone  of  grace  ?  The  Spirit  is  said  to  make  intercession  for 
saints  with  groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered.  When  j'ou  have  felt 
those  ineffable  longings  after  God,  have  you  indulged  them  to  the 
utmost?  Have  you  stretched  every  sail,  launched  forth  into  the  deep 
of  the  divine  perfections  and  promises,  and  possessed  yourselves  as 
much  as  possible  of  the  fulness  of  God?  There  are  moments  when 
the  conscience  of  a  good  man  is  more  tender,  has  a  nicer  and  more 
discriminating  touch  than  usual ;  the  evil  of  sin  in  general  and  of  his 
own  in  particular  appears  in  a  more  pure  and  piercing  light.  Have 
you  availed  yourselves  of  such  seasons  as  these  for  searching  into  the 
chambers  of  imagery,  and  while  you  detected  greater  and  greater 
abominations,  been  at  pains  to  bring  them  out  and  slay  them  before  the 
Lord  ?  Have  such  visitations  effected  something  towards  the  morlifi- 
catio"~  of  sin ;  or  have  they  been  suffered  to  expire  in  mere  ineffectual 
resOiUtions  ?  The  fruits  which  godly  sorrow  produced  in  the  Corin- 
thians were  thus  beautifully  portrayed  :  What  carefuhiess  it  wrought 
in  j/ou,  yea  what  clearing  of  yourselves,  yea  what  indignation,  yea  v:hat 
fear,  yea  what  vehement  desire,  yea  what  revenge.  There  are  moments 
in  the  experience  of  a  good  man  when  he  feels  a  more  than  ordinary 
softness  of  mind  ;  the  frost  of  selfishness  dissolves,  and  his  heart 
flows  forth  in  love  to  God  and  his  fellow-creatures.  How  careful  should 
we  be  to  cherish  such  a  frame,  and  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of 
subduing  resentments,  and  of  healing  those  sore  w'ounds  which  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  avoid  in  passing  through  this  unquiet  world  ! 

There  is  a  holy  skill  in  turning  the  several  parts  of  Christian  expe- 
rience to  account,  analogous  to  what  the  votaries  of  the  world  display 
in  the  improvement  of  every  conjuncture  from  which  it  is  possible  to 
derive  any  emolument ;  and  though  the  end  they  propose  is  mean  and 
contemptible,  the  steadiness  with  which  they  pursue  it,  and  their 
dexterity  in  the  choice  of  means,  deserve  imitation.  In  these  respects 
they  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light. 

Do  not  allow  yourselves  to  indulge  in  religious  sloth,  or  to  give 
way  to  the  solicitations  of  the  tempter  from  a  confidence  in  the  safety 
of  your  state,  or  in  your  spiritual  immunities  as  Christians.  The 
habitual  prevalence  of  such  a  disposition  will  afford  a  much  stronger 
proof  of  insincerity  than  any  arguments  which  can  be  adduced  for  the 


THE  HOLY  SPIRIT.  245 

contrary,  and  admitting  your  pretensions  to  piety  to  be  ever  so  valid, 
a  little  reflection  may  convince  you  that  a  careless  and  negligent  course 
will  lay  you  open  to  the  severest  rebukes.  You  only  have  I  known 
(says  the  Lord  by  the  prophet)  among  all  the  families  of  the  earth, 
therefore  will  I  visit  you  for  all  your  iniquities. 

Remember,  dear  brethren,  we  profess  a  peculiar  relation  to  God  as 
his  children,  his  witnesses,  his  people,  his  temple ;  the  character  of 
that  glorious  Being,  and  of  his  religion,  will  be  contemplated  by  the 
world  chiefly  through  the  medium  of  our  spirit  and  conduct,  'which 
ought  to  display,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  virtues  of  Him  who  hath  called 
you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light.  It  is  strictly  appropriate 
to  the  subject  of  our  present  meditations  to  remind  you  that  you 
are  temples.  For  ye,  says  the  apostle,  are  the  temple  of  the  living 
God,  as  God  hath  said,  I  will  dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  them,  and  I 
will  he  their  God,  and  they  shall  be  my  people.  What  purity,  sanctity, 
and  dignity  may  be  expected  in  persons  who  bear  such  a  character ! 
A  Christian  should  look  upon  himself  as  something  sacred  and  devoted, 
so  that  what  involves  but  an  ordinary  degree  of  criminality  in  others 
in  him  partakes  of  the  nature  of  sacrilege ;  what  is  a  breach  of  trust 
in  others  is  in  him  the  profanation  of  a  temple.  Let  us,  dear  brethren, 
watch  and  pray  that  nothing  may  be  allowed  a  place  in  our  hearts  that 
is  not  suitable  to  the  residence  of  the  holy  and  blessed  God.  Finally, 
having  such  great  and  precious  promises,  dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse 
ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  n  the 
fear  of  the  Lara. 


ON  HEARING  THE  WORDt 

THE 

CIRCULAR    LETTER 

FROM    THE 

MINISTERS  AND  MESSENGERS  of  the  BAPTIST  CHURCHES 

OF    THE 


[Wbitten  in  1813.J 


ON   HEARING   THE   WORD. 


Di>Aii  Brethren, 

r>iE  subject  on  which  we  addressed  you  at  our  last  anniversary 
was  the  proper  method  of  reading  the  Word  of  God;  as  a  natural 
sequel  to  which,  we  beg  leave  on  the  present  occasion  to  suggest  a 
few  hints  of  advice  respecting  the  duty  of  hearing  it. 

Preaching  is  an  ordinance  of  God  not  entirely  confined  to  the 
Christian  dispensation.  From  the  Old  Testament  history  it  appears 
that  Ezra,  upon  the  return  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon,  assembled  them 
in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  ascending  a  stage  or  pulpit  for  the 
advantage  of  being  better  seen  and  heard,  read  the  law  in  the  ears  of 
the  people,  and  gave  the  interpretation  thereof.  It  is  probable  that  he 
did  little  more  than,  agreeable  to  the  natural  import  of  the  phrase  inter- 
pretation, translate,  paragraph  by  paragraph,  the  Hebrew  original  into 
the  Syriac  or  Chaldee,  which  had  become,  during  a  captivity  of  forty 
years,  the  vernacular  language  of  the  Jews.  From  that  time,however, 
synagogues  were  erected  in  all  the  cities  throughout  Judea,  and  regular 
officers  appointed  to  read,  first  the  Pentateuch,  and  after  the  persecu- 
tion by  Antiochus  the  Prophets,  and  explain  them  in  ample  paraphrases 
or  comments.     Such  was  the  origin  of  preaching. 

Wlien  the  fulness  of  time  was  come  for  God,  in  his  infinite  mercy, 
to  send  forth  his  Son,  his  appearance  was  first  announced  by  John's 
proclaiming  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  vi ay  of  the  Lord;  which, 
after  a  short  time,  was  succeeded  by  the  personal  ministry  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  with  whom  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel,  properly 
speaking,  commenced.  After  his  resurrection,  our  Lord  extended  the 
commission  of  the  apostles  to  all  nations,  saying,  Go  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;  or,  as  you  have  it  in  Mark,  Go  ye  into  all  the  world, 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature. 

Upon  the  formation  of  Christian  churches,  an  order  of  men  was 
appointed  in  each  society  for  the  express  purpose  of  preaching  the 
Word  and  administering  the  sacraments :  wherein  the  wisdom  and 
kindness  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  church  is  eminently  conspicuous ; 
for  such  are  the  necessary  avocations  of  life,  so  little  the  leisure 
most  Christians  possess  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  such 
the  deficiency  of  many  in  the  elementary  parts  of  education,  that  they 
will  always,  under  God,  be  chiefly  indebted  to  this  appointment  for 


250  ON  HEARIiXCJ  THE  A\OKD. 

anv  cxtinsive  acquaintance  witli  divine  truth.  The  privilege  of  read- 
imr  the  Scriptures  in  our  native  hinguage  is  of  inestimable  value;  but 
were  it  nnich  more  universal  than  it  is,  it  would  not  supersede  the 
necessity  of  hearing  the  "Word  :  for  there  are  not  only  diflicultics  in  the 
Bible  whit'h  require  to  be  elucidated,  and  seeming  contradictions  to  be 
solved,  but  the  living  voice  of  a  preacher  is  admirably  adapted  to 
awaken  attention  and  to  excite  an  interest,  as  well  as  to  apply  the 
general  truths  of  revelation  to  the  various  cases  of  Christian  expe- 
rience, and  the  regulation  of  luuiian  conduct.  When  an  important 
subject  is  presented  to  an  audience,  with  an  ample  illustration  of  its 
several  parts,  its  practical  improvement  enforced,  and  its  relation  to 
the  conscience  and  the  heart  insisted  upon  with  seriousness,  copious- 
ness, and  fervour,  it  is  adapted,  in  the  nature  of  things,  to  produce  a 
more  deep  and  lasting  impression  than  can  usually  be  expected  from 
readino-.  He  who  knows  hoio  forcible  are  right  words,  and  how  apt 
man  is  to  be  moved  by  man,  has  consulted  the  constitution  of  oui 
frame,  by  appointing  an  order  of  men  whose  office  it  is  to  address 
their  fellow-creatures  on  their  eternal  concerns.  Strong  feeling  is 
naturally  contagious ;  and  if,  as  the  Wise  Man  observes,  as  iron 
sharucn'eth  iron,  so  doth  the  countenance  of  a  man  his  friend;  the  com- 
bined effect  of  countenance,  gesture,  and  voice,  accompanpng  a  power- 
ful appeal  to  the  understanding  and  the  heart,  on  subjects  of  everlast- 
ing moment,  can  scarcely  fail  of  being  great. 

"But  independently  of  the  natural  tendency  of  the  Christian  ministry 
to  promote  spiritual  improvement,  it  derives  a  peculiar  efficacy  from  its 
beint^  a  divine  appointment.  It  is  not  merely  a  natural,  it  is  also  an 
instituted  means  of  good  ;  and  whatever  God  appoints,  by  special 
authority,  he  graciously  engages  to  bless,  provided  it  be  attended  to 
with  right  dispositions  and  from  right  motives.  The  means  of  grace 
are,  as  the  Avords  import,  the  consecrated  channels  in  which  his 
spiritual  mercies  flow ;  and  as  the  communication  of  spiritual  blessings 
always  implies  an  exertion  of  divine  power,  so  these  become  the  stated 
instrument  or  occasion  of  its  exercise.  These  are  emphatically  his 
ways  in  wdiich  he  is  wont  to  walk  with  his  people.  Thou  meetest  him 
that  rejoiceth  and  icorketh  righteousness,  those  that  remember  thee  in  thy 
ways*  Though  the  Spirit  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  where  the  gospel 
is  not  preached  the  effects  of  his  operation  are  rarely  to  be  discerned, 
and  we  witness  few  or  no  indications  of  a  renewed  character  out  of 
the  bounds  of  Christendom.  From  the  history  of  religion,  in  all  ages, 
it  appears  that  the  Spirit  is  accustomed  to  follow  in  the  footsteps 
of  his  revealed  Word  ;  and  that,  wherever  his  work  lies,  he  prepares 
his  way  by  first  communicating  the  Oracles  of  God.  When  he  pro- 
posed to  take  out  a  peo  )le  for  his  name  from  among  the  gentiles,  the 
first  step  he  took  was  to  commission  the  apostles  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature.  To  this  St.  Paul  most  solemnly  directs  our  atten- 
tion, in  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  as  the  grand  instrument  of 
human  salvation: — When,  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world  by  wisdom 

*  Isaiat  Ixiv.  5. 


ON  HEARING  THE  WORD.  251 

kneiv  7wt  God,  it  pleased  him,  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save 
them  that  believe.  So  intimate,  by  divine  appointment,  is  the  con- 
nexion between  the  salvation  of  man  and  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  that 
the  method  of  salvation  under  the  gospel  derives  from  the  latter  its 
distinguishing  appellation,  being  denominated  the  hearing  of  faith, 
St.  Jude,  in  like  manner,  asserts  it  to  be  the  instrumental  cause  of  our 
regeneration.  Of  his  own  ivill  begat  he  iis  by  the  Word  of  Truth.  And 
to  the  same  purpose  St.  Peter  reminds  the  Christians  vi'hom  he  was 
addressing,  that  they  were  born  not  of  corruptible  seed  but  of  incor- 
ruptible, by  the  word  of  God;  which  xvord,  he  adds,  is  by  the  gospel 
preached  unto  you.  The  written  Word,  we  are  told,  indeed,  from  the 
highest  authority,  is  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation,  and  many 
pleasing  instances  of  its  saving  efficacy  might  be  produced  to  confirm 
this  position ;  but  as  the  gospel  was  preached  before  it  was  penned, 
it  rs  certain  that  most  of  the  passages  which  speak  on  this  subject  are 
to  be  referred  to  its  public  ministry,  and  that,  in  subsequent  ages,  God 
has  put  a  distin^iiishing  honour  upon  it,  by  employing  it  as  the  prin- 
cipal means  of  accomplishing  his  saving  purposes.  There  is  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  far  greater  part  of  those  who  have  been 
truly  sanctified  and  enlightened  will  ascribe  the  change  they  have 
experienced  principally  to  the  hearing  of  faith. 

Wlaat  a  powerful  motive  results  fi-om  thence  to  take  heed  how  we 
hear  !  If  we  feel  any  concern  for  a  sliare  in  the  great  salvation,  how 
careful  should  we  be  not  to  neglect  the  principal  means  of  obtaining 
it !  If  there  be  a  class  from  whom  the  spiritual  beauty  and  glory  of 
the  gospel  remain  concealed,  it  consists  of  a  description  of  persons 
the  very  mention  of  whom  ought  to  make  us  tremble.  If  our  gospel 
be  hid,  it  is  hid  to  them  that  are  lost.  Let  no  man  allow  himself  to 
neglect  the  hearing  of  the  Word,  or  hear  it  in  a  careless  or  irreverent 
manner,  under  the  pretence  of  his  having  an  opportunity  of  readmg  it  m 
private,  since  its  public  ministry  possesses,  with  respect  to  its  ten- 
dency to  excite  the  attention  and  interest  the  heart,  many  unquestion- 
able advantages ;  besides,  such  a  pretence  will  generally  be  found  to 
be  hollow  and  disingenuous.  If  you  observe  a  person  habitually  in- 
attentive under  an  awakening,  searching  ministry,  follow  him  into  his 
retirement,  and,  it  may  be  confidentially  predicted,  you  will  seldom  see 
the  Bible  in  his  hands ;  or,  if  he  overcome  his  aversion  to  religion  so 
far  as  occasionally  to  peruse  a  chapter,  it  will  be  in  the  same  spirit  in 
which  he  hears  :  he  will  satisfy  himself  with  having  completed  his 
task,  and  straightway  go  his  way  and  forget  what  manner  of  wan  he 
was.  If  the  general  course  of  the  world  were  as  favourable  to  re- 
ligion as  it  is  the  contrary,  if  an  intercourse  with  mankind  were  a 
school  of  piety,  the  state  of  such  persons  would  be  less  hopeless,  and 
there  would  be  a  greatei  probability  of  their  being  gained  without  the 
Word ;  but  while  every  thing  around  us  conspires  to  render  the  mind 
earthly  and  sensual,  and  the  world  is  continually  moulding  and  trans- 
forming its  votaries,  the  situation  of  such  as  attend  the  means  of 
grace  in  a  careless  manner  is  unspeakably  dangerous,  since  they  are 
sontinually  exposing  themselves  to  influences  which  corrupt,  wliile 


252  ON  HEARING  THE  WORD. 

they  render  themselves  inaccessible  to  sucli  as  arc  of  a  salutary  ope- 
ration. What  can  he  expected  hut  the  death  of  that  patient  who  takes  a 
conrse  w  iiiili  is  continnaily  inllaniing  liis  disease,  while  he  despises  and 
neglects  the  rcnieily  I  AVhen  we  see  men  attemive  under  the  ministry  of 
the  Word,  and  evidendy  anxious  to  comprehend  its  truths,  we  cannot  but 
entertain  hopes  of  their  salvation  ;  for  faith  comethby  hearing,  anti  hear- 
ing by  the  ^^'ord  of  God.  It  is  observed  of  the  Jews  at  Berea,  that 
they  ircre  more  nohJc  than  those  of  Thessalonica,  because  they  received 
the  Word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  and  searched  the  Scriptures  daily 
to  see  whether  these  things  were  so;  and  the  result  was  such  as  might 
be  expected, — a  great  multitude  of  them  believed.  Candid  and  atten- 
tive hearers  place  themselves,  so  to  speak,  in  the  way  of  the  Spirit : 
while  those  who  cannot  be  prevailed  upon  to  give  it  serious  attention 
may  most  justly  be  said  to  put  the  kingdom  of  God  far  from  them,  and 
judge  themselves  unworthy  of  eternal  life.  To  such  the  awful  threaten- 
ings  recorded  in  the  Proverbs  are  most  applicable ; — Because  I  have 
called,  and  ye  refused ;  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  no  man  re- 
garded I  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,  and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh. 
In  such  cases,  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  can  do  little  more  than,  like 
Jeremiah,  retire  to  weep  in  secret  places  for  their  pride. 

But  as  we  who  are  assembled  on  the  present  occasion  consist  of 
ministers  and  delegates  from  a  number  of  associated  churches,  whicli 
we  consider  ourselves  as  addressing  in  these  our  circular  epistles,  we 
shall  confine  ourselves,  in  our  subsequent  remarks,  to  such  heads  of 
advice  on  the  duty  of  hearing  the  Word  as  are  appropriate  to  the 
character  of  professing  Christians.  We  will  consider  ourselves  as  ad- 
dressing such,  and  sach  only,  as  must  be  supposed,  in  a  judgment  of 
charity,  to  have  an  experimental  acquaintance  with  Divine  truth. 

First.  Previous  to  your  entering  into  the  house  of  God,  seek  a 
prepared  heart,  and  implore  the  blessing  of  God  on  the  ministry  of 
his  Word.  It  may  be  presumed  that  no  real  Christian  will  neglect  to 
preface  his  attendance  on  social  worship  with  secret  prayer.  But  let 
the  acquishion  of  a  devout  and  serious  frame,  freed  from  the  cares, 
vanities,  and  pollutions  of  the  world,  accompanied  with  earnest  de- 
sires after  God  and  the  communications  of  his  grace,  form  a  prin- 
cipal subject  of  your  devotions.  Forget  not  to  implore  a  blessing  on 
the  public  ministry,  that  it  may  accomplish  in  yourselves,  and  to 
others,  the  great  purposes  it  is  designed  to  answer ;  and  that  those 
measures  of  assistance  may  be  afforded  to  your  ministers  which  shall 
replenish  them  with  light,  love,  and  liberty,  that  they  may  speak  the 
mystery  of  tlie  gospel  as  it  ought  to  be  spoken.  Pastors  and  people 
would  both  derive  eminent  advantages  from  such  a  practice ;  they  in 
their  capacity  of  exhibiting,  you  in  your  preparation  for  receiving, 
the  mysteries  of  the  gospel.  As  the  duties  of  the  closet  have  the 
happiest  tendency,  by  solemnizing  and  elevating  the  mind,  to  prepare 
for  those  of  the  sanctuary,  so  the  conviction  of  your  having  borne 
your  minister  on  your  heart  before  the  throne  of  grace  would,  apart 
from  every  other  consideration,  dispose  him  to  address  you  with  aug- 
mented zeal  and  tenderness.     We  should  consider  it  as  such  a  token 


N 


ON  HEARING  THB«  WORD.  25a 

for  good,  as  well  as  such  an  unequivocal  proof  of  your  attachment,  as 
would  greatly  animate  and  support  us  under  all  our  discouragements. 
Secondly.    Establish  in  your  minds  the  highest  reverence  and  esteem 
of  the  glorious  gospel.     Recollect  the  miracles  wrought  to  confirm  it; 
the  sanction,  the  awful  sanction,  by  which  a  due  reception  of  it  is 
enforced,  and  the  infinite  value  of  that  blood  byswhich  its  blessings 
were  ratified  and  procured.     Recollect  that  on  its  acceptance  or  rejec- 
tion, on  the  effects  which  it  produces  on  the  heart  and  life,  depends 
our  state  for  eternity ;  since  there  are  no  other  means  devised  for  our 
recovery,  no  other  name  given  under  heaven  by  which  we  can  be 
saved,  besides  that  which  it  exhibits.     It  is  not  merely  the  incorrupti- 
ble seed  of  regeneration ;  it  is  also  the  mould  in  which  our  souls  must 
be  cast,   agreeable  to  the  apostle's   beautiful  metaphor : — You  have 
obeyed  from  the  heart  that  form  (or  mould)  of  doctrine  into  which  ye 
were  delivered.     In  order  to  our  bearing  the  image  of  Christ,  who  is 
the  first-born  among  many  brethren,  it  is  necessary  to  receive  its  im 
press  in  every  part ;  nor  is  there  any  thing  in  us  what  it  ought  to  be, 
any  thing  truly  excellent,  but  in  proportion  to  its  conformity  to  that 
pattern.     Its  operation  is  not  to  be  confined  to  time  or  place  ;  it  is  the 
very  element  in  which  the  Christian  is  appointed  to  live,  and  to  receive 
continual  accessions  of  spiritual  strength  and  purity,  until  he  is  pre- 
sented faultless  in  the  presence  of  the  divine  glory.     The  more  you 
esteem  the  gospel,  the  more  will  you  be  attached  to  that  ministry  in 
which  its  doctrines  are  developed,  and  its  duties  explained  and  incul- 
cated ;  because,  in  the  present  state  of  the  world,  it  is  the  chief,  though 
not  the  only,  means  of  possessing  yourselves  of  its  advantages.     To 
tremble  at  God's  word  is  also  mentioned  as  one  of  the  most  essential 
features  in  the  character  of  him  to  whom  God  will  look  with  appro- 
bation. 

Thirdly.     Hear  the  Word  with  attention.     If  you  are  convinced  of 
the  justice  of  the  preceding  remarks,  nothing  further  is  requisite  to 
convince  you  of  the  propriety  of  this  advice,  since  they  all  combine  to 
enforce  it.     We  would  only  remark, 'in  general,  that  the  knov.ledge 
derived  from  a  discourse  depends  entirely  upon  attention  ;  in  exact  pro- 
portion to  which  will  be  the  progress  made  by  a  mind  of  a  given 
capacity.     Not  to  listen  with  attention  is  the  same  thing  as  to  have 
ears  which  hear  not,  and  eyes  which  see  not.    While  you  ai-e  hearing, 
whatever  trains  of  thought  of  a  foreign  and  extraneous  nature  obtrude 
themselves   should  be  resolutely  repelled.     In  the  power  of  fixing 
the  attention,  the  most  precious  of  the  intellectual  habits,  mankind 
differ  greatly ;  but  every  man  possesses  some,  and  it  will  increase  the 
more  it  is  exerted.     He  who  exercises  no  discipline  over  himself  in 
this  respect  acquires  such  a  volatility  of  mind,  such  a  vagrancy  of 
imagination,  as  dooms  him  to  be  the  sport  of  every  mental  vanity ;  it 
is  impossible  such  a  man  shoidd  attain  to  true  wisdom.     If  we  culti- 
vate, on  the  contrary,  a  habit  of  attention,  it  will  become  natural, 
thought  will  strike  its  roots  deep,  and  we  shall,  by  degrees,  experience 
no  difficulty  in  following  the  track  of  the  longest  connected  discourse. 
As  we  find  it  easy  to  attend  to  what  interests  the  heart,  and  the 


/ 


254  ON  HEARING  THE  WORD. 

lioui'^hts  naturally  follow  the  course  of  the  afTections,  the  best  antidote 
to  habitual  inattentiou  to  religious  instruction  is  the  love  of  the  truth. 
Let  the  Word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly,  and  to  hear  it  attentively 
will  be  a  pleasure,  not  a  task. 

The  practice  of  sleeping  in  places  of  worship,  a  practice  we  believe 
not  prevalent  in  any  other  places  of  public  resort,  is  not  only  a  gross 
violation  of  the  advice  we  are  giving,  but  most  distressing  to  ministers, 
and  most  disgraceful  to  those  who  indulge  it.  If  the  apostle  indig- 
nantly inquires  of  the  Corinthians  whether  they  had  not  houses  to  eat 
and  drink  in,  may  we  not,  with  equal  propriety,  ask  those  who  indulge 
in  this  practice  whether  they  have  not  beds  to  sleep  in,  that  they  con- 
vert the  house  of  God  into  a  dormitory  ?  A  little  self-denial,  a  very 
gentle  restraint  on  the  appetite,  would,  in  most  cases,  put  a  stop  to 
this  abomination ;  and  with  what  propriety  can  he  pretend  to  desu-e 
the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word  who  cannot  be  prevailed  upon,  one  day 
out  of  seven,  to  i-efrain  from  the  glutting  which  absolutely  disqualifies 
him  for  receiving  it  ? 

Fourthly.  Hear  the  Word  of  God  with  impartiality.  To  be  partial 
in  the  law  was  a  crime  formerly  charged  upon  the  Jewish  priests  ;  nor 
is  it  less  sinful  in  the  professors  of  Christianity.  There  is  a  class  of 
hearers  who  have  their  favourite  topics,  to  which  they  are  so  im- 
inoderately  attached  that  they  are  offended  if  they  are  not  brought 
forward  on  all  occasions ;  while  there  are  others  of  at  least  equal 
importance,  which  they  can  seldom  be  prevailed  upon  to  listen  to  with 
patience.  Some  are  never  pleased  but  with  doctrmal  statements  ;  they 
are  in  raptures  while  the  preacher  is  insisting  on  the  doctrines  of  grace, 
and  the  privileges  of  God's  people  ;  but  when  he  proceeds  to  inculcate 
the  practical  improvement  of  these  doctrines,  and  the  necessity  of 
adorning  the  profession  of  them  by  the  virtues  of  a  holy  life,  their 
countenances  fall,  and  they  make  no  secret  of  their  disgust.  Others 
are  all  for  practical  preaching,  while  they  have  no  relish  for  that  truth 
which  can  alone  sanctify  the  heart.  But,  as  it  is  a  symptom  of  a 
diseased  state  of  body  to  be  able  to  relish  only  one  sort  of  food,  it  is 
not  less  of  the  mind  to  have  a  taste  for  only  one  sort  of  instruction. 
It  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  such  persons  love  the  Word  of  God  as 
the  Word  of  God ;  for,  if  they  did,  every  part  of  it,  in  its  due  pro- 
portion, and  its  proper  place,  would  be  acceptable.  It  is  possible,  in 
consequence  of  the  various  exigencies  of  the  Christian  life,  that  there 
may  be  seasons  to  which  some  views  of  divine  truth  may  be  peculiarly 
suited,  andon  that  account  heard  with  superior  advantage  and  delight ; 
but  this  is  perfectly  consistent  with  an  impartial  attachment  to  the 
whole  of  revelation.  But  to  feel  an  habitual  distaste  to  instruction, 
the  most  solid  and  scriptural,  unless  it  be  confined  to  a  few  favourite 
topics,  is  an  infallible  indication  of  a  wrong  state  of  mind.  It  is  only 
by  yielding  the  soul  to  the  impression  of  every  divine  communication 
and  discovery,  that  the  several  graces  which  enter  into  the  composition 
of  the  new  creature  are  nourished  and  sustained.  As  the  perfection  of 
the  Christian  system  results  from  the  symmetry  of  its  several  parts,  in 
which  there  is  nothii.g  redundant,  nothing  disproportioned,  and  notlung 


ON  HEARING  THE  WORD.  255 

defective ;  so  the  beauty  of  the  Christian  character  consists  in  its  ex- 
hibiting an  adequate  impress  and  representation  of  the  whole.  If 
there  be  any  particular  branch  of  the  Word  of  God  to  which  we  are 
habitually  indisposed,  we  may  generally  conclude  that  is  precisely  the 
part  which  we  most  need ;  and,  instead  of  indulging  our  distaste,  we 
ought  seriously  to  set  ourselves  to  correct  the  mental  disease  which 
has  given  occasion  to  it. 

In  some  instances,  the  partiality  to  certain  views  of  truth  to  the 
exclusion  of  others,  of  which  we  are  complaining,  may  arise,  not  so 
much  from  moral  disorder  as  from  a  deficiency  of  religious  knowledge, 
and  that  contraction  of  mind  which  is  its  usual  consequence.  We 
would  earnestly  exhort  persons  of  this  description  not  to  make  them- 
selves the  standard,  nor  attempt  to  confine  their  ministers  to  the  first 
principles  of  tue  Oracles  of  God.  There  are  in  most  assemblies  some 
who  are  capable  of  digesting  strong  meat,  whose  improvement  ought 
to  be  consulted ;  and  it  behooves  such  as  are  not,  instead  of  abridging 
the  provisions  of  the  family,  to  endeavour  to  enlarge  their  knowledge 
and  extend  their  inquiries.  A  Christian  minister  is  compared  by  our 
Lord  to  a  householder,  who  brings  out  of  his  treasure  things  new 
and  old. 

Fifthly.  Hear  the  Word  with  constant  self-application.  Hear  not 
for  others,  but  for  yourselves.  What  should  we  think  of  a  person  who, 
after  accepting  an  invitation  to  a  feast,  and  taking  his  place  at  the 
table,  instead  of  partaking  of  the  repast  amused  himself  with  specu- 
lating on  the  nature  of  the  provisions,  or  the  manner  in  which  they 
were  prepared,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  temperament  of  the  several 
guests,  without  tasting  a  single  article  ?  Such,  however,  is  the  conduct 
of  those  who  hear  the  Word  without  applying  it  to  themselves,  or  con- 
sidering the  aspect  it  bears  on  their  individual  character.  Go  to  the 
house  of  God  with  a  serious  expectation  and  desire  of  meeting  with 
something  suited  to  your  particular  state, — something  that  shall  lay 
the  axe  to  the  root  of  your  corruptions,  mortify  your  easily  besetting 
sin,  and  confirm  the  graces  in  which  "you  are  most  deficient.  A  little 
attention  will  be  sufficient  to  give  you  that  insight  into  your  character 
which  will  teach  what  you  need,  what  the  peculiar  temptations  to 
which  you  are  exposed,  and  on  what  account  you  feel  most  shame 
and  humiliation  before  God.  Every  one  may  know  if  he  pleases  the 
plague  of  his  own  heart.  Keep  your  eye  upon  it  while  you  are  hear- 
ing, and  eagerly  lay  hold  upon  what  is  best  adapted  to  heal  and.  correct 
it.  Remember  that  religion  is  a  personal  thing,  an  individual  concern ; 
for  every  one  of  us  must  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God,  and  every 
man  bear  his  own  burden.  Is  not  my  Word  as  afire,  saith  the  Lord, 
as  a  hammer  that  breakcth  the  rock  in  pieces  ?  If  such  be  its  power 
and  efficacy  lay  your  hearts  open  to  it,  and  expose  them  fully  to  the 
stroke  of  the  hammer  and  the  action  of  the  fire.  Do  not  imagine,  be- 
cause you  are  tolerably  well  acquainted  with  the  system  of  the  gospel, 
that  you  have  therefore  nothing  to  learn ;  and  that  your  only  obli- 
gation to  attend  its  ministry  arises  from  the  necessity  of  setting  an 
example.     It  is  probable  your  knowledge  is  much  more  limited  than 


266  ON  HEARING  THE  WORD. 

you  suppose ;  but,  if  it  be  not,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  imagine  the 
only  advantage  derived  from  hearing  is  the  acquisition  of  new  truths 
There  is  a  spiritual  perception  infinitely  more  important  than  the 
knowknlge  uhich  is  merely  speculative.  The  latter  is  at  most  but  a 
means  to  the  former,  and  this  perception  is  not  confined  to  new  propo- 
sitions. It  is  frequently,  nay  more  frequently,  attached  to  truths  already 
knowli ;  and,  when  they  are  faithfully  and  affectionately  exhibited, 
they  are  the  principal  means  of  calling  into  action  and  strengtliening 
the  habits  of  internal  grace.  Love,  joy,  humility,  heavenly-minded- 
ness,  godly  sorrow  for  sin,  and  holy  resolutions  against  it  are  not 
promoted  so  much  by  novel  speculations  as  by  placing  in  a  just  and 
afi'ecting  light  the  acknowledged  truths  of  the  gospel,  and  thereby 
stirring  up  the  mind  by  way  of  remembrance.  Whilst  I  am  in  this 
tabernacle,  said  Peter,  /  will  not  be  negligent  to  put  you  in  remembrance 
of  these  things,  though  ye  know  them,  and  are  established  in  the  present 
truth.  We  appeal  to  the  experience  of  every  real  Christian,  whether 
the  sweetest  and  most  profitable  seasons  he  has  enjoyed  have  not  been 
those  in  which  he  is  conscious  of  having  learned  no  new  truth,  strictly 
speaking,  but  was  indulged  with  spiritual  and  transforming  views  of 
the  plain,  unquestionable  discoveries  of  the  gospel.  As  the  Word  of 
God  is  the  food  of  souls,  so  it  corresponds  to  that  character  in  this 
respect  among  others, — that  the  strength  and  refreshment  it  imparts 
depend  not  upon  its  novelty,  but  upon  the  imtritious  properties  it  pos- 
sesses.    It  is  a  sickly  appetite  only  which  craves  incessant  variety. 

Sixthly.  Hear  with  candour.  The  indulgence  of  a  nice  and  fas 
lidious  taste  is  as  adverse  to  the  improvement  of  the  hearer  as  it  is  to 
the  comfort  of  the  minister.  Considering  the  variety  of  our  avoca- 
tions, the  necessity  we  are  under  of  addressing  you  in  all  states  of 
mind,  and  sometimes  on  the  most  unexpected  occasions,  if  we  could 
not  rely  on  your  candour,  our  situation  would  be  scarcely  tolerable. 
Where  the  general  tendency  of  a  discourse  is  good,  and  the  instruction 
delivered  w^eighty  and  solid,  it  is  the  part  of  candour  to  overlook  im- 
perfections in  the  composition,  manner,  or  elocution  of  the  speaker ; 
imitating  in  this  respect  the  example  of  the  Galatians,  of  whom  Paul 
testifies  that  they  did  not  despise  his  temptation,  which  was  in  the 
flesh;  some  unhappy  peculiarity  in  his  speech  or  countenance,  we 
may  suppose,  which  exposed  him  to  the  derision  of  the  unfeeling.  The 
liOrd,  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  severely  censures  such  as  make  a  man 
an  offender  for  a  word, — a  fault  too  prevalent  in  many  of  our  churches, 
especially  among  such  as  are  the  least  informed  and  judicious ;  for 
the  disposition  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  orthodoxy  of  ministers  is 
usually  in  an  inverse  proportion  to  the  ability.  Be  not  hasty  in  con- 
cluding that  a  preacher  is  erroneous  because  he.  may  chance  to  use  a 
word  or  a  phrase  not  exactly  suited  to  your  taste  and  comprehension. 
It  is  very  possible  the  idea  it  is  intended  to  convey  may  perfectly 
accord  with  your  own  sentiments ;  but,  if  it  should  not,  it  is  equally 
possible  the  propriety  of  it  may  be  vindicated  by  considerations  with 
which  you  are  mt  acquainted.  Be  not  many  masters,  many  teachers, 
saith  St.  James,  knowing  ye  shall  receive  the  greater  condemnation 


ON  HEARING  THE  WORD.  *  ,  25"? 

Hear  the  Word  of  God  less  in  the  spirit  of  judges  than  of  those"  who 
shall  be  judged  by  it.'  If  you  are  not  conscious  of  your  need  of  .reli* 
gious  instruction,  wliy  elect  pastors  and  teachers  for  tliat  purpose? 
But  if  you  are,  liovv  inconsistent  is  it  to  indulge  that  spirit  of  cavil  and 
censure  which  can  have  no  other  effect  than  to  deter  your  ministers 
from  the  faithful  discharge  of  their  office,  from  declaring  tlie  whole 
counsel  of  God !  In  most  dissenting  congregations,  there  is  one  or 
more  persons  who  value  themselves  on  their  skill  in  detecting  the 
unsoundness  of  ministers  ;  and  who  when  they  hear  a  stranger,  attend 
less  with  a  view  to  spiritual  improvement  than  to  pass  their  verdict, 
which  they  expect  shall  be  received  as  decisive.  It  is  almost  unneces- 
sary to  add  that  they  usually  consist  of  the  most  ignorant,  conceited, 
and  irreligious  part  of  the  society.  Such  a  disposition  should  as  much 
as  possible  be  discouraged  and  suppressed. 

Receive  with  meekness  the  ingrafted  Word,  which  is  able  to  save 
your  souls.  Despise  not  men  of  plain  talents  who  preach  the  truth, 
and  appear  to  have  your  eternal  welfare  at  heart.  If  you  choose  to 
converse  with  your  fellow-christians  on  what  you  have  been  hearing, 
a  practice  which,  if  rightly  conducted,  may  be  very  edifying ;  let  your 
conversation  turn  more  upon  the  tendency,  the  spiritual  beauty,  and 
glory  of  those  great  things  of  God  which  have  engaged  your  attention 
than  on  the  merit  of  the  preacher.  We  may  readily  suppose  that 
Cornelius  and  his  friends,  after  hearing  Peter,  employed  very  few 
words  in  discussing  the  oratorical  talents  of  that  great  apostle,  any 
more  than  the  three  thousand  who  at  the  day  of  Pentecost  were 
pricked  to  the  heart:  their  minds  were  loo  much  occupied  by  the 
momentous  truths  they  had  been  listening  to,  to  leave  room  for  such 
reflections.  Yet  this  is  the  only  kind  of  religious  conversation  (if  it 
deserve  the  appellation)  in  which  too  many  professors  engage.  "  Give 
me,"  says  the  incomparable  Fenelon,  "  the  preacher  who  imbues  my 
mind  with  such  a  love  of  the  Word  of  God,  as  makes  me  desirous  of 
hearing  it  from  any  mouth." 

When  your  ministers  are  exposing  a  particular  vice,  and  endea- 
vouring to  deter  from  it  by  the  motives  which  reason  and  revelation 
supply,  guard  against  a  suspicion  of  their  being  personal.  That  they 
ought  not  to  be  so  we  readily  admit ;  that  is,  that  they  ought  not  to 
descend  to  such  a  minute  specification  of  circumstances  as  shall  neces- 
sarily direct  the  attention  to  one  or  more  individuals ;  but  if  they  are 
not  at  liberty  to  point  their  arrows  against  particular  vices  among 
them,  or  are  expected,  lest  they  should  wound,  to  make  a  courteous 
apology,  by  assuring  the  audience  of  their  hope  and  conviction  that 
none  among  them  are  implicated,  they  had  better  seal  up  their  lips  in 
perpetual  silence.  It  is  a  most  indispensable  part  of  our  office  to  warn 
sinners  of  every  description ;  and,  that  we  may  not  beat  the  air,  to 
attack  particular  sins  as  well  as  sin  in  the  abstract ;  and  if,  without 
our  intending  h,  an  individual  suspects  he  is  personally  aimed  at,  he 
merely  bears  an  involuntary  testimony  to  our  fidelity  and  skill. 

Seventhly.  Hear  the  Word  with  a  sincere  resolutioi?.  of  obeying  it. 
If  ye  know  these  things,  said  our  liord,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do  them. — 

Vol.  I.— R 


■^j^r- 


'^^ 


ON  HJK^RING  THE  M^ORD. 

heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  Viill  liken  aim 
0  tlTa  01UVI  icho  built  his  house  vpon  a  rock.  To  be  a  forgetful  hearer  of 
tlie  Word  and  not  a  doer,  is  to  forfeit  all  tlie  advantages  of  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation,  which  is  imparted  solely  with  a  view  to  practice. 
The  doctrine  of  faith  is  published  with  a  design  to  produce  the  obedi- 
ence of  faith  in  all  nations.  The  doctrine  of  repentance  is  nothing 
inore  or  fess  than  the  command  of  God  that  all  men  every  where 
should  repent.  If  we  are  reminded  that  lie  who  in  times  past  spake 
to  the  fathers  by  the  prophets  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  to  us  by  his 
Son,  it  is  that  we  may  be  admonished  not  to  refuse  him  that  speaketh. 
If  we  are  taught  the  supreme  dignity  and  exaltation  of  Christ  as  a 
Mediator,  it  is  that  every  knee  may  bow,  and  every  tongue  confess  that 
he  is  Lord.  If  the  apostles,  having  the  mind  of  Christ,  faithfully  im- 
parted it,  it  was  that  the  same  mind  may  be  in  us,  to  purify  our  pas- 
sions and  regulate  our  conduct.  AVe  can  scarcely  imagine  a  greater 
impertinence  than  to  hear  the  Word  with  apparent  seriousness,  without 
intendhig  to  comply  with  its  directions.  It  is  a  solemn  mocker)-,  con- 
cealing under  an  air  of  reverence  and  submission  a  determination  to 
rebel,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  prophet,  a  heart  bent  on  backsliding. 
To  suppose  the  Supreme  Being  pleased  with  such  a  mode  of  attend- 
ance is  to  impute  to  him  a  conduct  which  it  would  be  an  insult  to 
ascribe  to  a  fellow-creature ;  for  who  but  the  weakest  of  mortals, 
under  the  character  of  a  master  or  a  sovereign,  would  be  gratified  with 
the  profound  and  respectful  attention  Avith  which  his  commands  were 
heard,  while  there  existed  a  fixed  resolution  not  to  obey  ?  Eemember, 
dear  brethrp^^,  the  practical  tendency  of  every  Christian  doctrine : 
remember  tirdt  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  is  the  appointed  instrument 
of  forming  the  spirits  of  men  to  faith  and  obedience ;  and  that,  conse- 
quently, the  utmost  attention  and  assiduity  in  hearing  it  is  fruitless 
and  unavailing  which  fails  to  produce  that  effect. 

Finally.  Be  careful,  after  you  have  heard  the  Word,  to  retain  and 
perpetuate  its  impressions.  Meditate,  retire,  and  digest  it  in  your 
thoughts ;  turn  it  into  prayer ;  in  a  word,  spare  no  pains  to  fasten  it 
upon  your  hearts.  You  have  read,  dear  brethren,  of  those  to  tchom 
the  gospel  was  preached  as  well  as  to  us,  but  the  Word  did  not  proft 
them,  not  being  mixed  with  faith  in  them  that  heard  it.  Endeavour  to 
exert  upon  it  distinct  and  vigorous  acts  of  faith,  and  thereby  to  mingle 
and  incorporate  it  with  all  the  powers  of  the  mind  and  all  the  springs 
of  action.  But  this  you  can  never  accomplish  without  deep  and  serious 
reflection  ;  for  want  of  which  it  is  too  often  left  loose  and  exposed  like 
uncovered  seed,  which  the  fowls  of  heaven  easily  pick  up  and  devour. 
Then  Cometh  that  wicked  one,  says  our  Lord,  and  takcth  it  out  of  his 
heart,  and  he  becometh  unfruitful.  How  many  hearers,  by  engaging 
in  w^orldly  conversation,  or  giving  way  to  a  vain  and  unprofitable  train 
of  thought,  when  they  leave  the  sanctuar}%  lose  the  impressions  they 
had  received,  instead  of  conducting  themselves  like  persons  who  have 
just  been  put  in  possession  of  a  treasure  which  they  are  anxious  to 
secure  from  depredation !  If  Satan  watches  for  an  opportunity  of 
taking  the  Word  out  of  our  hearts,  what  remains  but  that  we  oppose 


ON  HEARING  THE  WORU.  259 

vigilance  to  vigilance,  and  effort  to  effort?  And  since  the  prize  con- 
tended for  by  the  powers  of  darkness  is  our  souls,  what  a  mclanciioly 
reflection  it  will  be,  if  the  disinterested  malice  of  our  enemies  renders 
them  vigilant  and  active  in  seeking  their  destruction,  while  we  are 
careless  and  negligent  in  seeking  their  salvation !  Satan,  conscious 
that  the  Word  of  God  is  capable  of  elevating  us  to  that  pinnacle  of 
happiness  whence  he  fell,  contemplates  its  success  with  alarm,  and 
spares  no  artifice  or  stratagem  which  his  capacious  intellect  can  sug- 
gest to  obstruct  its  progress ;  and  if  we,  by  our  criminal  negligence, 
turn  his  ally  against  ourselves,  we  shall-  be  guilty  of  that  prodigy  of 
folly  and  infatuation  which  is  equally  condemned  by  the  councils  of 
heaven  and  the  machinations  of  hell. 

R2 


ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF  THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY. 

A  SERMON, 

PREACHED    AT 

LUTON,   BEDFORDSHIRE, 
April  3,  1822. 


NOTE  BY  THE  EDITOR. 


About  seven  years  ago  I  went  down  to  Leicester  at  Mr.  Hall's  especial  request, 
for  the  purpose  of  advising  with  him  as  to  the  preparation  of  a  volume  of  Sennons, 
an  undertaking  to  which  he  had  then  made  up  his  mind.  After  various  conversa- 
tions we  fixed  upon  twelve,  the  subjects  of  which,  with  their  respective  modes  of 
discussion  and  application,  he  regarded  himself  as  able  to  recall  without  much  diffi- 
culty. Among  the  sermons  then  selected  was  the  following,  composed  in  con- 
tirmation  of  a  momentous  point  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  which  he  had  preached 
it  Luton,  in  the  spring  of  1822.  He  spoke  of  it  as  most  readily  occurring  to  his 
mind  in  its  entire  arrangement,  and  I  therefore  urged  him  to  commit  it  to  paper  as 
soon  as  possible.  This,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  he  accomplished  accordingly. 
But  the  continued  indifferent  state  of  his  health,  the  numerous  interruptions  to 
which  he  was  then  exposed,  and  his  total  inability  to  satisfy  himself  in  composing 
for  the  press,  jointly  concurred  in  preventing  him  from  advancing  any  farther 
towards  the  completion  of  his  design. 

The  manuscript  copy  of  this  discourse,  in  Mr.  Hall's  own  handwriting,  has 
been  found  since  his  death  :  not  complete,  it  is  true  ;  but  there  are  only  two  chasms 
of  importance,  and  these  I  have  been  enabled  to  fill  up  by  means  of  the  reports  of 
the  same  sermon  which  I  have  received  from  various  friends.  Although,  there- 
fore, 1  cannot  but  regret  that  the  portions  alluded  to  are  not  given  precisely  in 
Mr.  Hall's  language,  yet  I  trust  that  nothing  essential  to  the  trair*  of  argument 
tr  to  its  principal  iilug*'"'''ons  is  omitted. 

JilVP..    ISoJ 


lOTES    OF    SERMONS. 


A   SERMON. 


Isaiah  liii.  8. 
For  the  transgression  of  my  people  was  he  stricken. 

Isaiah  has  been  usually  styled  the  evangelical  prophet ;  and  had 
no  other  part  of  his  preaching  descended  to  us  except  the  portion 
before  us,  it  would  have  sufficiently  vindicated  the  propriety  of  that 
appellation.  The  sufferings  of  the  Messiah  are  so  affectingly  por- 
trayed, and  their  purpose  and  design  so  clearly  and  precisely  stated, 
that  we  seem  to  be  perusuig  the  writings  of  an  apostle  rather  than  the 
predictions  of  a  prophet :  the  obscurity  of  an  ancient  oracle  brightens 
into  the  effulgence  of  gospel  light.  In  no  part  of  the  New  Testament 
is  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  more  unequivocally  asserted,  and  the 
vicarious  nature  of  our  Lord's  passion  more  forcibly  inculcated,  than 
in  the  context  of  the  words  selected  as  the  basis  of  the  present 
discourse. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  premise,  that  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  original  text  has,  in  this  instance,  undergone  some  alteration, 
and  that  it  anciently  stood  thus,  he  was  smitten  unto  death.  It  is  thus 
written  by  Origen,  who  assures  us  that  a  certain  Jew,  with  whom  he 
disputed,  seemed  to  feel  himself  more  pressed  by  this  expression  than 
by  any  other  part  of  the  chapter.  It  is  thus  rendered  by  the  Septua- 
gint  in  our  present  copies  ;  and  if,  in  this  instance,  it  had  not  concurred 
with  the  original,  neither  could  Origen*  have  urged  it  with  good  faith 
nor  the  Jew  have  felt  himself  embarrassed  by  the  argument  which  it 
suggested. 

The  Jews  pretend  that  no  single  person  is  designed  in  this  portion 
of  prophecy ;  but  that  the  people  of  Israel  collectively  are  denoted  under 
the  figure  of  one  man,  and  that  the  purport  of  the  chapter  is  a  delinea- 
tion of  the  calamities  and  sufferings  which  that  nation  should  undergo 
with  a  view  to  its  correction  and  amendment.  The  absurdity  of  this 
evasion  will  be  obvious  to  him  who  considers  that  the  person  who  is 
represented  as  stricken  is  carefully  distinguished  by  the  prophet  frons 

*  Se,p  Orig.  com.  Cels.  lib.  1.  c  44,*  and  Keniiicott's  Observations,  quoted  by  Bishop  Lowth  in  hit 
Notes  on  isaiah  liii. — Ed. 


266  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

the  people  for  whose  benefit  he  suffered  ;  for  the  transiircssion  of  my 
veupic  mis  he  stricken :  in  addition  to  wliich  he  is  aihrmed  to  be 
stricken  even  to  death,  which,  as  Origen  very  properly  urt/ed,  agrees 
well  with  the  fate  of  an  individual,  but  not  with  that  ol  a  people. 

In  spite  of  the  vain  tergiversation  of  the  Jews;  and  the  sophistry, 
equallv  impotent,  of  some  who  bear  the  Christian  name,  this  portion 
of  ancient  writ  will  remain  an  imperishable  monument  of  the  faith 
once  ihUvered  to  the  saints,  of  the  harmony  subsisting  between  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testament  in  relation  to  the  scheme  of  mediation 
and  the  basis  of  hope. 

Tiiat  the  suflerings  of  the  Redeemer  were  vicarious  and  piacular, 
that  he  appeared  in  the  character  of  a  substitute  for  sinners,  in  dis- 
tinction from  a  mere  example,  teacher,  or  martyr,  is  so  unquestionably 
the  doctrine  of  the  inspired  writers,  that  to  deny  it  is  not  so  properly 
to  mistake  as  to  contradict  their  testimony ;  it  must  be  ascribed,  not  to 
any  obscurity  in  revelation  itself,  but  to  a  want  of  submission  to  its 
authority. 

The  doctrine  in  question  is  so  often  asserted  in  the  clearest  terms, 
and  tachly  assumed  as  a  fundamental  principle  in  so  many  more  ;  it 
is  intermingled  so  closely  with  all  the  statements  of  truths  and  incul- 
cations of  duty  throughout  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  to  endeavour  to 
exclude  it  from  revelation  is  as  hopeless  an  attempt  as  to  separate 
colour  from  the  rainbow  or  extension  from  matter. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  discourse  to  enter  into  the  proo/" 
of  the  substitution  of  Christ  in  the  place  of  sinners,  as  the  defence  of 
that  doctrine  \vill  frequently  engage  the  attention  of  every  Christian 
minister. 

In  addressing  those  who  are  thoroughly  confirmed  in  its  belief,  we 
may  be  allowed  to  proceed  on  the  assumption  of  its  truth,  while  we 
endeavour,  in  dependence  on  divine  assistance,  to  illustrate  the  fitness  of 
the  scheme  o{suhstitution,2in(!ii  the  indications  which  it  affords  of  profound 
and  unsearchable  wisdom.  Diflicult  as  this  subject  must  be  allowed  to 
be,  I  trust  an  attempt  to  discuss  it,  however  feeble,  is  not  exposed  to 
the  charge  of  presumption.  It  is  one  thing  to  presume  to  anticipate 
the  counsels  of  Heaven,  and  another,  after  they  are  accomplished  and 
exhibited  as  facts,  humbly  to  explain  the  wisdom  with  which  they  are 
fraught.  To  have  anticipated  the  scheme  of  redemption  by  previously 
perceiving  that  it  was,  of  all  possible  plans,  the  fittest  to  be  adopted  by 
a  Being  of  infinite  wisdom,  was  a  task  to  which,  it  is  probable,  no 
finite  intellect  was  adequate ;  but  to  perceive  some  of  its  congruities, 
when  it  is  actually  laid  before  us,  may  demand  nothing — 


{Here  there  is  a  chasm  m  the  manuscript:  but  from  the  notes  of  this 
sermon  with  which  the  editor  has  been  supplied,  it  may  be  filled  as  to 
substance,  thus: — ] 

To  perceive  some  of  its  congruities  may  require  but  an  ordmary  degree 
of  talent  and  discrimmation.  with  an  upright   desire  to  learn  whal 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  267 

I evelation  teaches ;  and  is  altogether  distinct  from  attempting  to  be 
wise  above  what  is  written. 

In  endeavouring  to  show  the  circumstances  which  render  this  extra- 
ordinary method  of  proceeding  consistent  with  the  character  of  God, 
we  only  pursue  the  guidance  of  the  Sacred  Writings  and  find  new 
motives  for  gratitude  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  his  unspeakable 
goodness. 

Yet  every  reflecting  person  must  perceive  that  there  is  in  this  doc- 
trine something  extremely  remote  from  ordinary  apprehension,  apart 
from  the  instruction  derived  from  Holy  Writ.  That  one  of  tlie  human 
race,  by  submitting  to  an  ignominious  and  painful  death,  should  be  tlie 
moral  source  of  the  salvation  of  an  innumerable  multitude  of  mankind, 
and,  if  duly  improved,  a  sufficient  source  for  tlie  salvation  of  all,  is 
surely  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  of  the  divine  proceedings  widi  re- . 
gard  to  man.  Nothing  like  this  has  ever  existed.  It  seems  to  stand 
by  itself  an  insulated  department  of  Divine  Providence,  to  contain 
within  itself  a  metliod  of  acting  which  was  never  seen  before,  and 
will  never  be  repeated. 

Among  men,  the  substitution  of  a  righteous  for  a  guilty  person  could 
rarely  occur.  There  is  seldom  found  sufficient  heroism  or  virtue 
to  iuduce  an  individual  so  to  offer  himself;  such  a  combination  of 
benevolence  and  of  generous  oblivion  of  self-interest  as  to  induce  such 
a  sacrifice. 

Nor  would  it  be  fit,  in  ordinary  cases,  that  it  should  be  admitted : 
for  virtuous  characters  are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  admit  of  such 
a  waste  of ,  the  valuable  elements  of  society;  besides  that  it  would  be 
contrary  to  all  moral  economy  to  admit  the  violation  of  law  to  be  par- 
doned at  the  expense  of  such  as  are  its  ornaments  and  blessings.  No 
wise  government  would  permit,  to  any  considerable  extent,  a  proceed- 
ing which  would  tend  to  continue  in  existence  those  who  inflict  misery 
on  mankind,  at  the  expense  of  those  who  are  its  blessings. 

Besides,  if  this  practice  were  common,  even  upon  the  supposition 
that  no  crime  should  pass  without  being  followed  by  punishment  as 
a  necessary  result,  yet  such  would  be  the  uncertainty,  after  crime 
had  been  committed,  as  to  who  should  bear  the  punishment,  as  would 
tend  to  take  away  all  fear  of  committing  oflences.  The  best  provision 
of  wise  legislation,  which  is  to  prevent  crime,  not  to  punish,  would  thus 
be  removed.  It  would  become  a  kind  of  lottery  who  should  suffer, 
and  thus  the  dread  of  punishment  would  be  greatly  impaired,  if  not 
entirely  destroyed. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  so  far  from  this  being  a  liuman  device. 
It  could  never  have  been  tliouglit  of 'ds  an  ordinary  mode  of  procedure. 
And  though  there  are  some  traces  in  history  of  persons  supposed  to 
have  presented  themselves  as  vicarious  offerings  for  relatives  or  con- 
nexions, yet  they  are  feebly  attested  :  while  among  the  well-attested 
records  of  judicial  authority  we  have  no  instance,  probably,  of  any 
person  who  was  himself  innocent  and  upright  being  admitted  as  a 
substitute  in  behalf  of  the  guilty.  Yet  that  this  is  the  way  in  which 
the  Infinite  Mind  has  proceeded  in  laying  the  foundation  of  human 


26?  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

acceptance  none  can  doubt  but  those  who  are  disposed  to  torture  the 
phxinest  expressions. 

Let  us,  therefore,  consider  what  circumstances  met  in  this  case, 
and  must  be  su])poscd  to  concur  on  any  occasion  of  this  kind,  to  render 
lit  and  proper  llie  substitution  of  an  innocent  person  in  the  place  of 
the  guilty;  and  what  is  peculiar  in  the  character  of  our  Saviour  which 
renders  it  worthy  of  God  to  set  him  apart  as  a  propitiation  fur  the 
sins  of  the  world.,  and  annex  the  blessings  of  eternal  life  to  such  as 
believe  in  the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  and  repent  and  turn  to  God. 

\Kj'  We  noiv  return  to  the  original  copy.^ 

Firstly.  It  is  obvious  that  such  a  procedure  as  we  are  now  con- 
templating, in  order  to  give  it  validity  and  effect,  must  be  sanctioned 
by  the  Supreme  authority.  It  is  a  high  exertion  of  the  dispensing 
power,  which  can  issue  from  no  inferior  source  to  that  from  which  the 
laws  themselves  emanate. 

For  a  private  person,  whatever  might  be  his  station  in  society,  to 
pretend  to  introduce  such  a  commutation  of  punishment  as  is  implied 
in  such  a  transaction,  w^ould  be  a  presumptuous  invasion  of  legislative 
rights,  which  no  w'ell-regulated  society  would  tolerate.  To  attach 
the  penalty  to  the  person  of  the  offender  is  as  much  the  provision  oi 
the  law  as  to  denounce  it — they  are  equally  component  parts  of  one 
and  the  same  regulation ;  and  the  power  of  dispensing  with  the  laws 
is  equivalent  to  the  power  of  legislation.  Besides,  so  many  circum- 
stances, rarely  if  ever  combined,  must  concur  to  render  such  a  pro- 
cedure conducive  to  the  ends  of  justice,  that  it  would  be  the  height  of 
temerity  to  commit  the  determination  of  them  to  the  exercise  of  private 
discretion  instead  of  legislative  wisdom. 

This  condition  was  most  unequivocally  satisfied  in  the  mystery  of 
Christ's  substitution.  AVhen  he  undertook  to  bear  our  sins  in  his  own 
body  on  the  tree,  he  contracted  no  private  engagement  without  the  con- 
sent and  approbation  of  his  heavenly  Father.  If  he  gave  himself  for 
our  sins,  to  redeem  us  from  the  present  evil  world,  it  was  according  to 
the  will  of  God,  even  our  Father.  On  every  occasion  he  reminds  lis 
that  he  did  nothing  from  himself,  but  that  only  Avhich  the  Father  had 
commissioned  him  to  do.  /  have  power,  said  he,  to  lay  down  my  life, 
and  power  to  take  it  up  again;  this  commandment  received  I  of  my 
Father.  Hereafter  I  will  not  talk  much  with  you,  for  the  prince  of  this 
world  cometh  and  hath  nothing  in  me;  but  that  the  world  may  know  thai 
I  love  the  Father,  and  as  the  Father  gave  me  commandment,  so  I  do. 
Arise,  let  us  go  hence.  In  this  was  maiiifested  the  love  of  God  towards 
us,  because  that  God  sent  his  only-begotten  Son  into  the  world  that  we 
might  live  through  him.  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God,  but  thai 
he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  And. 
we  have  seen  arid  do  testify  that  the  Feather  sent  the  Son  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.* 

*  See  John  x.  IS  to  John  xlv.  31 ;  1  John  iv.  9, 10-14. 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  269 

These  inspired  statements  place  it  beyond  all  doubt  that  Christian- 
ity originated  with  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  universe,  that  its 
gracious  provisions  are  the  accomplishment  of  his  counsel,  and  that 
its  principles,  however  much  they  surpass  the  discoveries  of  reason, 
are  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  genuine  dictates  of  natural  religion. 
The  substitution  of  the  Redeemer  in  the  room  of  sinners  was  the 
contrivance  of  the  same  wisdom. 


[A  second  chasm  in  Mr.  HaWs  manuscript,  supplied  in  substance  from 
notes  of  others.] 

Secondly.  Another  indispensable  circumstance  in  such  a  proceed 
ing  is,  that  it  should  be  perfectly  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  sulferer. 
Otherwise,  it  would  be  an  act  of  the  highest  injustice ;  it  would  be 
the  addition  of  one  offence  to  another,  and  give  a  greater  shock  to  all 
rightly-disposed  minds,  than  the  acquittal  of  the  guilty  without  any 
atonement.  Whenever  such  an  offering  has  been  spolien  of  as  taking 
place,  it  is  represented  as  originating  with  the  innocent  person  himself. 

Here  there  appears,  at  first  sight,  an  insuperable  difficuUy  in  the 
way  of  human  salvation.  How  could  that  be  rendered  which  was  at 
once  due  to  sin  and  mankind  at  large  ?  Where  could  one  be  found 
that  would  endure  the  penalty  freely,  which  was  incurred  by  a  sinful 
world  ?  This  our  Saviour  did.  He  came,  not  only  by  authority,  but 
such  was  his  infinite  love,  that  he  came  voluntarily.  He  expressed 
the  deepest  interest  in  his  undertaking.  He  announced  the  particulars 
of  his  suffering,  how  he  must  be  delivered,  spit  upon,  and  put  to  death ; 
.  and  in  his  hour  of  suffering,  nothing  is  plainer  than  that  he  gave  him- 
self up  CO  it  voluntarily,  according  to  the  settled  purpose  of  his  own 
mind.  » 

No  sacrifice  should  go  unwillingly,  to  the  altar.  It  was,  indeed, 
reckoned  a  bad  omen  whtn  any  one  did  so.  None  ever  went  so  wil- 
lingly as  he.  He  was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  evinced  a 
readiness  to  be  offered  up.  He  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame, 
all  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him ;  that  glorious  reward,  the  eter- 
nal happiness  of  an  innumerable  multitude  of  intelligent  creatures 
who  must  have  perished  if  he  had  not  been  stricken  to  death  for  them. 

Thirdly.  It  is  farther  necessary  that  tlie  substitute  not  only  under- 
take voluntarily,  but  that  he  be  perfectly  free  from  the  offence  which 
renders  punishment  necessary.  If  he  were  tainted  with  that  for 
which  the  punishment  was  assigned ;  nay,  if  he  were  only  in  part 
implicated  in  any  other  crime,  he  had  already  incurred  some  penalty ; 
and  there  must  be  a  proportionate  deduction  for  what  was  due  on 
his  part. 

Accordingly,  in  the  case  of  man,  divine  justice  cannot  be  willing  to 
icquiesce  in  a  substitute  who  is  a  sharer  in  guilt ;  for  the  law  has  a 
:>r?vious  hold  upon  him  ;  there  is  a  debt  due  on  his  own  account. 

But  Jesus  Christ,  thou<j-h  a  man,  was,  by  reason  of  his  miraculous* 


270  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

conception,  free  from  the  taint  of  original  sin.  That  holy  thing  wliich 
was  born  of  the  virgin  grew  up  in  a  course  of  perfect  purity  and  rec- 
titude, lie  could  say  to  his  enemies,  Which  of  you  convinceih  me  of 
sin  ?  He  was  huly,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners. 
lie,  and  lie  alone,  of  all  who  are  of  our  nature,  appeared  in  this  char- 
acter. By  this  means  he  became  an  immaculate  sacrifice.  He  was 
sliadowGtl  fbrtli  by  a  pure  lamb.  He  was  as  a  lamb  vithout  spot.  It 
was  not  this  that  rendered  tlie  sacrifice  sufficient,  but  in  tiiis  respect  it 
accomplished  all  tliat  could  be  expected  of  a  human  sacrifice.  His 
Father  rested  in  him,  not  only  because  he  w^as  his  beloved  Son,  a  par- 
taker of  his  divine  nature,  but  because  he  was  holy  and  such  an  one 
as  became  us ;  *not  that  we  had  a  clain.  to  such  a  priest,  but  no  other 
could  answer  for  us.  The  Levitical  high-priests  could  never  u-ith 
those  sacrifices  which  they  offered  continually,  year  by  year,  make  the 
comers  thereunto  perfect ;  for  each  ought,  as  for  the  people,  so  also  for 
himself,  to  offer  for  sins  ;  and  therefore  he  could  only  be  an  imperfect 
figure  of  the  true  high-priest,  who  offered  not  for  himself,  but  offered 
himself  for  us. 

Fourthly.  There  would  be  a  great  propriety  in  this  also,  that  the 
innocent  person  substituted  for  the  guilty  should  stand  in  some  rela- 
tion to  him. 

Now  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  related  to  mankind  ;  one  like  them 
whom  he  came  to  redeem.  It  was  indispensable  that  he  should  stand 
in  close  connexion  with  them  to  whom  his  righteousness  was  to  be 
transferred.  This  was  shadowed  forth  in  the  law  of  a  redeemer  of 
a  lost  estate.  The  person  who  was  to  redeem  must  be  related  :  hence 
a  redeemer  and  a  relation  were  expressed  by  one  term,  and  the  near- 
est relation  was  to  redeem.  This  was  not  merely  a  law  suited  to  that 
state  of  society,  but  was  intended  to  foreshow  the  congruity  of  the 
substitution  of  Christ.  Forasmuch  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  fesh 
and  blood,  he  also  himself  took  part  of  the  same.  Thus  he  became  like 
unto  his  brethren.  He  took  not  on  him  the  nature  of  angels,  but  took 
on  him  the  seed  of  Abraham,  the  seed  he  came  to  redeem.  As  he 
came  to  sinful  men,  he  took  on  him  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  He 
was  made  like  unto  us  in  all  points,  yet  without  sin.  The  brazen 
serpent  lifted  up  for  the  cure  of  the  Israelites  was  of  the  same  fonn 
as  the  serpents  by  which  they  were  wounded.  By  one  man  came 
sin  and  death,  by  one  man  came  redemption.  For  if  by  one  maris 
offence  death  reigned  by  one,  much  more  they  which  receive  abundance 
of  grace  shall  reign  in  life  by  one,  Jesus  Christ.  Much  more  is  ad- 
duced to  the  same  effect  by  St.  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  al] 
tending  to  establish  the  truth,  that  as  the  first  Adam  was  the  cause  of 
corruption,  shame,  and  misery,  so  the  second  Adarn  is  the  source  of 
holiness,  life,  and  bliss. 

Hence,  then,  the  incarnation  of  our  Lord  was  necessary.  He  was 
obliged  to  pass  from  one  world  to  anotiier,  to  take  upon  him  a  nature 
origin-ally  foreign  from  him.  /  carne  forth  from,  the  father,  saitli  he, 
and  am  come  into  the  world;  and  justly  will  the  Jove  tnai  prompted 
Jiim  to  do  so  be  the  everlasting  theme  of  all  holy  and  happy  oeiiigs 


THE  INNOCENT  FOil  THE  GL'lLTY.  271 

It  is  probable  tliatif  nothing  else  had  rendered  unsuitable  the  substitu- 
tion of  angels  for  men,  this  would  have  been  sufficient,  that,  on  account 
of  the  essential  difference  between  their  nature  and  that  of  man,  there 
would  have  been  an  incongruity  in  substituting  their  acts  for  ours.  But 
Jesus  Christ,  by  his  incarnation,  being  of  one  flesh  and  of  one  spirit 
with  us,  was  fitted  to  sustain  the  character  of  Redeemer.  He  thus 
became  indeed  our  kinsman,  one  in  the  same  circumstances,  under  the 
same  law,  liable  to  the  same  temptations,  subject  to  the  same  pas- 
sions, encompassed  about  with  our  infirmities,  but  sinless ;  and  thus 
suited  every  way  to  become  a  substitute  for  our  guilty  race. 

[Qz^T-Fe  again  return  to  the  original  copy .^ 

Tluis  much  is  certain,  that  as  the  wisdom  of  God  saw  it  requisite 
that  the  redemption  of  guilty  man  should  be  effected  by  a  sacrifice 
proportioned  to  the  exigence  of  the  case,  the  assumption  of  hiunan 
nature  followed  as  a  natural  consequence.  The  ancient  sacrifices 
appointed  by  Moses  possessed  not  (it  was  impossible  they  should)  any 
intrinsic  Validity  ;  they  exhibited  not  the  expiation,  but  the  remem- 
brance of  sin  every  year.  This  is  the  express  declaration  of  the 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  But  in  those  sacrifices  there  is 
a  remembrance  again  made  of  sins  every  year.  For  it  is  not  possible 
for  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  to  take  away  sins.  Wherefore  when 
he  Cometh  into  the  world  he  saith.  Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  wouldst 
not,  hut  a  body  hast  thou  prepared  me.  In  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices 
for  sin  thou  hast  had  no  pleasure.  Then  said  /,  Ln,  I  come  [in  the  vol- 
ume of  the  book  it  is  lorittcn  of  me)  to  do  thy  will,  O  God.  By  his  as- 
sumption of  human  nature,  he  stood  (notwithstanding  that  original  supe- 
riority which  removed  him  at  an  infinite  distance)  to  the  race  of  man  in 
the  relation  of  a  brother ;  for  the  flesh  which  he  condescended  to  take  of 
the  blessed  virgin,  of  whom  he  was  miraculously  conceived,  connected 
him  with  our  common  progenitor.  For  both  he  that  sanctifieth,  and 
they  who  are  sanctified,  are  all  of  ofie,  derived  from  one  parent ; 
for  which  cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them,  brethren ;  saying,  I  will 
declare  thy  name  unto  my  brethren;  in  the  midst  of  the  church  will  I 
sing  praise  unto  thee. 

Fifthly.  If  the  substitution  of  the  innocent  in  the  room  of  the  guilty 
is  at  all  permitted,  it  seems  requisite  that  no  advantage  should  be 
taken  of  a  momentary  enthusiasm,  a  sudden  impulse  of  heroic  feeling, 
which  might  prompt  a  generous  mind  to  make  a  sacrifice,  of  which,  on 
cool  deliberation,  he  repented. 

A  proper  space  should  be  allowed  for  reviewing  the  resolution,  for 
surveying  it  in  all  its  consequences,  and  forming  a  settled  and  immov- 
able purpose.  The  self-devotion  implied  in  such  a  transaction  will 
acquire  additional  dignity  in  proportion  as  it  appears  the  result,  not  of 
hurried  and  impetuous  feeling,  but  of  fixed  determination  and  extended 
foresight ;  a  resolution  on  which  time  has  had  no  other  effect  than  tc 
fortify  and  confirm  it. 

How  often  is  the  pang  of  intense  commiscri'.tion  found  to  suggest 


272  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

the  idea  of  sacrifices,  which  the  calmer  and  more  permanent  dictates 
of  self-interest  consign  to  oblivion  and  S(;atter  to  the  wind  !  l^erhaps 
there  are  few  who  have  not  been  the  subject  of  momentary  feeling,  the 
steady  predominance  of  which  would  have  made  them  heroes  and 
martyrs,  who  yet  shortly  subside  into  their  native  selfishness,  and 
before  the  season  for  action  arrives,  the  genial  current  which  warmed 
them  for  a  moment  is  chilled  and  frozen. 

In  the  case  we  are  now  contemplating,  the  admission  of  an  innocent 
person  to  sufier  instead  of  the  guilty,  nothing  could  reconcile  the  mind 
to  such  a  procedure  but  such  a  settled  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  sub- 
stitute as  precludes  the  possibility  of  a  vacillation  or  change.  But 
this  condition  is  found  in  the  highest  perfection  on  the  part  of  the 
blessed  Redeemer.  His  oblation  of  himself  was  not  the  execution  of 
a  sudden  purpose,  the  fruit  of  a  momentary  movement  of  pity ;  it  was 
the  result  of  deliberate  counsel,  the  accomplishment  of  an  ancient 
purpose,  formed  in  the  remotest  recesses  of  a  past  eternity,  rle  was 
the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  Before  the  moun- 
tains were  settled,  before  the  hills  was  I  brought  forth  :  while  as  yet  he 
had  not  made  the  earth,  nor  the  fields,  nor  the  highest  part  of  the  dust 
of  the  world.  When  he  prepared  the  heavens,  when  he  set  a  compass 
upon  the-face  of  the  deep  ;  ichen  he  gave  to  the  sea  his  decree,  itiat  the 
waters  should  not  pass  his  commandment ;  when  he  -fixed  the  foundations 
of  the  earth :  rejoicing  in  the  habitable  parts  of  his  earth ;  his  delights 
were  with  the  so?is  of  men. 

It  is  appointed  indeed  ybr  all  men  once  to  die.  With  us  it  is  an  evem 
inseparably  attached  to  an  abode  on  earth.  But  with  the  Redeemer  il 
was  not  so  properly  an  incident  of  his  earthly  existence,  as  its  princi- 
pal end  and  design.  He  assumed  life  for  the  purpose  of  laying  it 
down ;  and  ail  the  purposes,  great  as  they  were,  whicli  were  accom- 
plished by  his  life,  were  in  entire  subordination  to  those  which  lie  con- 
templated as  the  certain  consequences  of  his  death.  In  the  course  ol 
his  sojourn  here,  he  never  permitted  himself  to  lose  sight  of  it  lor  a 
moment.  The  final  scene,  with  all  its  terrors,  was  familiar  to  his 
imagination,  and  endeared  to  his  heart ;  from  no  indifference  to  sr^ffer- 
ing,  real  or  affected,  but  from  the  prospect  of  the  joy  that  was  set  be- 
fore him.  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptised  with,  he  exclaimed,  and 
how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accomplished!  Instead  of  wishing  to 
efface  the  remembrance  of  it  by  turning  his  attention  to  other  objects, 
there  was  nothmg  which  he  appeared  more  solicitous  to  inculcate  on 
the  minds  of  his  disciples  than  the  certainty  of  his  future  sufterings. 
Then  took  he  unto  hi7n  the  twelve,  and  said  unto  them.  Behold,  we  go  up 
to  Jerusalem,  and  all  things  that  are  written  by  the  prophets  concerning 
the  Son  of  man  shall  be  accomplished.  Then  shall  he  be  delivered  unto 
the  Gentiles,  and  shall  be  spitefully  entreated  and  spit  upon,  and  they 
shall  scourge  him  and  put  him  to  death.  When  Peter,  shocked  at 
these  annunciations,  presumed  to  expostulate  with  his  Divine  Master, 
he  met  with  the  severest  rebuke.  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  said  ne, 
for  thou  savourest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of 
men.     Until  he  had  finished  the  work  which  was  given  him,  he  coiv 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTl.  273 

suited  his  safety,  ofteii concealed  himself,  and  avoided  such  an  open 
display  of  his  character  and  pretensions  as  might  precipitate  ihe 
designs  of  his  enemies.  But  the  moment  the  appoinied  time  had 
arrived,  we  (iiid  him  laying  aside  all  reserve,  courting  the  publicity 
which  before  he  had  shunned,  and  fearlessly,  in  the  face  of  the  san- 
hedrim, aud  even  before  the  tribunal  of  Pilate,  avowing  himself  the 
Son  of  God,  though  he  well  knew  the  effect  would  be  to  hasten  his 
exit.  While  danger  was  at  a  distance  he  was  cautious  and  reserved, 
but  the  moment  it  arrived  he  abandoned  himself  to  it  with  a  calm  and 
fearless  intrepidity. 

Sixthlij.  In  the  case  of  the  substitution  of  the  innocent  for  the 
guilty,  it  seems  highly  requisite  that  he  who  offers  himself  as  the  sub- 
stitute should  Justify  the  law  by  which  he  suffers.  To  say  the  least, 
the  decorum  of  the  transaction  will  be  nuich  heightened  on  the  suppo- 
sition, that  he  who  sustains  vicarious  punishment,  not  only  yields  his 
entire  consent,  but  proclaims,  at  the  same  time,  his  conviction  of  the 
equity  and  goodness  of  the  legal  enactment  to  which  he  falls  a  sacri- 
fice. It  were  to  be  desired,  though  it  can  scarcely  be  hoped,  that  penal 
laws  were  so  constructed  as  to  impress  a  persuasion  of  their  justice 
universally  on  those  who  have  incurred  their  penalties.  But  in  the 
case  we  are  now  considering,  which  is  that  of  an  innocent  person  sub- 
stituting himself  in  the  place  of  the  guilt)^  there  is  a  peculiar  leason 
for  demanding  his  express  approval  of  the  equity  of  the  original  sen- 
tence. The  enthusiastic  admiration  which  such  conduct  would  natur- 
ally excite,  the  reverence  which  such  a  display  of  unparalleled  mag- 
nanimity would  necessarily  attach  to  its  possessor,  could  not  fail  to 
add  dignity  to  his  character  and  weight  to  his  sentiments  ;  and  if, 
while  he  submitted  to  the  penalty,  he  reprobated  the  severity  of  the 
law,  the  feelings  of  the  spectators  might  be  divided  between  esteem 
for  the  illustrious  sufferer,  and  an  aversion  to  the  supposed  rigour  of 
the  law.  Thus  the  character  of  the  sufferer  would  operate  in  a  con- 
trary direction  to  the  punishment,  and  tend  to  defeat  its  salutary  effects. 

In  the  substitution  of  the  Redeemer  of  mankind  were  conjoined  the 
most  prompt  and  voluntary  endurance  of  the  penalty,  with  the  most 
avowed  and  cordial  approbation  of  the  justice  of  its  sanctions.  It 
was  a  great  part  of  the  business  of  his  life  to  assert  and  vindicate  by 
his  doctrine  that  law  which  he  magnified  and  made  illustrious  by  his 
passion. 

Previous  to  his  offering  himself  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  world, 
he  was  incessantly  employed  in  rescuing  the  precepts  of  God  from  the 
false  glosses  by  which  they  had  been  corrupted,  in  asserting  their  spir- 
ituality, exhibiting  their  extent,  and  sustaining  their  just  authority,  as 
the  unalterable  ride  of  action  and  standard  of  duty. 

Never  had  the  law  such  an  expounder  as  in  the  person  of  Him  who 
came  into  the  world  to  exhaust  its  penalties  and  endure  its  curse. 
He  condemned,  with  the  greatest  severity,  every  tenet  or  practice  that 
went  to  weaken  its  obligations  or  relax  its  strictness.  To  place  it  on 
the  throne,  to  magnify  and  make  it  honourable,  was  not  less  the  ob- 
•ect  of  his  ministry   and  of  his  life,  than  of  his  death.     Thus,  the 

Vol.  I.— S 


^74  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

8entinn?nts  of  supreme  devotion  and  attachment,  to  which  lie  is  enti 
tied  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  combine  to  strengthen  our  veneration 
for  the  law ;  nor  can  we  pretend  to  any  portion  of  the  mind  of  Christ, 
but  just  in  proportion  to  our  practical  regard  to  the  law  of  God,  as 
holy,  just,  and  good.  The  more  intimately  our  affections  are  luiited  to 
Christ,  the  more,  to  speak  in  Scripture  language,  he  dwells  in  our  hearts 
by  faith,  the  more  will  the  beauty  of  holiness  attract  the  heart,  and 
the  deformity  of  sin  be  the  object  of  our  aversion.  As  the  love  of 
Christ  is  the  master-principle  in  the  Christian  system,  so  its  operation 
must  invariably  coincide  with  the  claims  of  divine  authority  ;  because 
it  is  the  love  of  a  personage  who  was  distinguished  from  all  others  by 
a  constant  compliance  with  its  dictates,  and  a  most  ardent  devotion  to 
its  honour.  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  subvert  the  laiu  or  the 
prophets  :  I  am  come  not  to  subvert,  but  to  ratify.  For,  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  heaven  and  earth  shall  sooner  perish  than  one  iota  or  one  tittle 
of  the  law  shall  perish  tcithout  attaining  its  end.*  In  such  terms  as  these 
did  our  Saviour  assert  the  intrinsic  excellence  and  imalterable  perpe- 
tuity of  the  law  of  God ;  by  which  he  has  instructed  us  in  the  true 
nature  of  his  saci-ifice,  which  was  designed,  not  merely  to  appease 
wrath,  but  to  satisfy  justice  ;  not  merely  to  relieve  misery,  but  to 
expiate  guilt.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  it  should  be  indeli- 
bly engraved  on  our  minds,  that  Christ  died,  not  merely  to  rescue  us 
from  the  ruin  which  we  had  incurred,  but  from  the  punisliment  which 
we  had  merited;  since  our  gratitude  for  the  provisions  of  mercy  will 
be  exactly  proportioned  to  the  conviction  we  feel  of  the  perfect  equity 
of  that  sentence  from  which  it  exempts  us.  In  this  view  we  are  un- 
speakably indebted  to  our  great  Deliverer  for  so  zealously  asserting 
the  honours  of  that  law  which  cost  him  so  dear. 

The  penitent  believer  is  now  under  no  temptation  to  indulge  depre- 
ciating thoughts  of  the  immutable  excellence  and  obligation  of  that 
rule  of  duty  which  he  has  so  frequently  and  awfully  violated. 

Seventhly.  That  the  voluntary  substitution  of  an  innocent  person 
in  the  stead  of  the  guilty,  may  be  capable  of  answering  the  ends  of 
justice,  nothing  seems  more  necessary  than  that  the  substitute  should 
be  of  equal  consideration,  at  least,  to  the  party  in  whose  behalf  he 
interposes.  The  interests  sacrificed  by  the  suffering  party  should  not 
be  of  less  cost  and  value  than  those  which  are  secured  by  such  a 
procedure. 

But  the  aggregate  value  of  those  interests  must  be  supposed  to  be 
in  some  proportion  to  the  rank  and  dignity  of  the  party  to  which  they 
belong.  As  a  sacrifice  to  justice,  the  life  of  a  peasant  must,  on  this 
principle,  be  deemed  a  most  inadequate  substitute  for  thai  of  a  person 
age  of  the  highest  order.  We  should  consider  the  requisitions  of 
justice  eluded,  raiher  than  satisfied,  by  such  a  commutation.  It  is  on 
this  ground  that  St.  Paul  declares  it  to  be  impossible  for  the  blood  of 
hulls  and  of  goats  to  take  away  sins ;  the  intrinsic  meanness  of  the 
brute  creation  being  such,  that  a  victim  taken  from  thence  could  b**  of 

*  Matt.  V  18.    Dr.  Campbell's  version. 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  275 

no  consideration  in  the  eyes  of  offended  justice.  They  were  quali- 
fied to  exhibit,  as  he  reminds  us,  a  remembranre  of  sin  every  year,  bu\, 
are  utterly  unequal  to  the  expiation  of  its  guilt. 

In  this  view,  the  redemption  of  the  human  race  seemed  to  be 
hopeless ;  and  their  escape  from  merited  destruction,  on  any  princi- 
ples connected  with  law  and  justice,  absolutely  impossible.  For 
where  could  an  adequate  substitute  be  found  1  Where,  among  the 
descendants  of  Adam,  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  could  one  be 
selected  of  such  pre-eminent  dignity  and  worth,  that  his  oblation  of 
himself  should  be  deemed  a  fit  and  proper  equivalent  to  the  whole 
race  of  man  ?  to  say  nothing  of  the  impossibility  of  finding  there  a  spot- 
less victim  (and  no  other  could  be  accepted).  Who  is  there  that  ever 
possessed  that  prodigious  superiority  in  all  the  qualities  which  aggran- 
dize their  possessor  to  every  other  member  of  the  human  family,  which 
shall  entitle  him  to  be  the  representative,  either  in  action  or  in  suffer- 
ing, of  the  whole  human  race  \  In  order  to  be  capable  of  becoming 
a  victim,  he  must  be  invested  with  a  frail  and  mortal  nature  ;  but  the 
possession  of  such  a  nature  reduces  him  to  that  equality  with  his 
brethren,  that  joint  participation  of  meanness  and  infirmity,  which 
totally  disqualifies  him  for  becoming  a  substitute.  Here  a  dilemma 
presents  itself  from  which  there  seems  no  possibility  of  escape.  If 
man  is  left  to  encounter  the  judicial  effects  of  his  sentence,  his  ruin 
is  sealed  and  certain.  If  he  is  to  be  redeemed  by  a  substitute,  that 
substitute  must  possess  contradictory  attributes,  a  combination  of  quali- 
ties not  to  be  found  within  the  compass  of  human  nature.  He  must 
be  frail  and  mortal,  or  he  cannot  die  a  sacrifice ;  he  must  possess 
ineffable  dignity,  or  he  cannot  merit  as  a  substitute. 

Such  were  the  apparently  insurmountable  difiiculties  which  ob- 
structed the  salvation  of  man  by  any  methods  worthy  of  the  divine 
character ;  such  the  darkness  and  perplexity  which  involved  his  pros- 
pectSi  that  it  is  more  than  probable  the  highest  created  intelligence 
would  not  have  been  equal  to  the  solution  of  the  question,  How  shall 
man  he  just  with  God? 

The  mystery  hid  from  ages  and  generations,  the  mystery  of  Christ 
crucified  dispels  the  obscurity,  and  presents  in  the  person  of  the 
Redeemer  all  the  qualifications  which  human  conception  can  imbody 
as  contributing  to  the  perfect  character  of  a  substitute.  By  his  par- 
icipation  of  flesh  and  blood  he  becomes  susceptible  of  sufiering,  and 
possesses  within  himself  the  materials  of  a  sacrifice.  By  its  personal 
union  with  the  eternal  word,  the  sufferings  sustained  in  a  nature  thus 
assumed  acquired  an  infinite  value,  so  as  to  be  justly  deemed  more 
than  equivalent  to  the  penalty  originally  denounced. 

His  assumption  of  the  human  nature  made  his  oblation  of  himself 
possible;  his  possession  of  the  divine  rendered  it  eflicient ;  and  thus 
weakness  and  power,  the  imperfections  incident  to  a  frail  and  mortal 
creature,  and  the  exemption  from  these,  the  attributes  of  time  and  those 
of  eternit)',  the  elements  of  being  the  most  opposite,  and  deduced  from 
opposite  worlds,  equally  combined  to  give  efficacy  to  his  character  as 
the  Redeemer,  and  validity  to  his  sacr'fice.    They  constitute  a  person 

S  2 


276  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

who  has  no  counterpart  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  who  may  be  mosi 
justly  doiiominated  "  Wonderful;''''  composed  of  parts  and  Ibatures  of 
whic-li  (however  they  may  subsist  elsewhere  in  a  state  of  separation,) 
the  combination  and  union  nothing  short  of  infinite  wisdom  could 
have  conceived,  or  infinite  power  effected.  The  mysterious  constitu- 
tion of  the  person  of  Christ,  the  stupendous  link  whicii  unites  God  and 
man,  and  heaven  and  earth ;  that  mystic  ladder,  on  which  the  angels 
of  God  ascended  and  descended,  whose  foot  is  on  a  level  with  the  dust, 
and  whose  summit  penetrates  the  inmost  recesses  of  an  unapproach- 
able splendour,  will  be,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  through  eternity,  the 
object  of  profound  contemplation  and  adoring  wonder. 

In  ascribing  the  sufficiency  and  efficacy  of  the  atonement  made  by 
our  Saviour  to  the  pre-eminent  dignity  of  his  person  as  the  Son  of 
God,  we  are  justified  by  the  direct  testimony  of  Scripture,  which  is 
wont  to  unite  these  together  in  such  juxtaposition  as  plainly  implies 
their  intimate  and  inseparable  relation  to  each  other. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
founds  the  insufficiency  of  the  victims  under  the  law  to  take  away 
sin  on  their  inherent  meanness,  with  which  he  contrasts  the  validity  of 
the  atonement  made  by  Christ :  a  motle  of  reasoning,  the  force  of 
which  entirely  depends  on  his  superior  dignity  and  worth.  After 
asserting  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  could  not  take  away  sin, 
he  adds,  Then  said  I,  Lo,  1  come  to  do  thy  loill,  O  God.  Above, 
tvhen  he  said.  Sacrifice,  and  offering,  and  burnt-offerings  for  sin  thou 
iDouldst  not,  neither  hadst  pleasure  therein  7rhick  are  offered  by  the 
law;  then  said  he,  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  O  God.  He  taketk 
away  the  first  that  he  may  establish  the  second.  Adverting  to  the 
acknowledged  fact  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  availed  to  the 
purifying  of  the  flesh,  in  other  words,  to  the  removal  of  ceremonial 
pollutions,  he  adds,  How  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who 
through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  tv'ithout  spot  to  God, 
purge  your  consciences  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  and 
true  God  ? 

All  must  acknowledge  that  the  purification  of  the  conscience  from 
dead  works,  that  is,  the  pardon  of  sin  and  peace  with  God,  is  an 
infinitely  greater  benefit  than  the  removal  of  legal  disabilities  under  the 
ceremonial  law ;  but  the  apostle  teaches  us  to  expect  from  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ  this  incomparably  greater  benefit  with  a  much  firmer 
assurance  than  that  with  which  the  pious  Jew  anticipated  the  less. 
The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son,  St.  John  assures  us,  cleanscth  us 
from  all  sin.  If  St.  Peter  has  occasion  to  enforce  the  obligation  of 
shunning  the  pollutions  of  the  world,  the  argument  he  makes  use  of 
for  that  purpose  is  derived  from  the  value  of  that  blood  which  was 
shed  for  their  redemption,  in  comparison  to  which  all  the  treasures  of 
earth  are  consigned  to  contempt.  Forasmuch  as  ye  know,  is  his  lan- 
guage, ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold, 
from  your  vain  conversation  received  by  tradition  from  your  fathers,  hut 
with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and 
without  spot. 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  277 

As  the  wliole  provision  of  a  Saviour  originated  in  the  gracious  pur- 
pose of  God,  it  is  with  tlie  utmost  propriety  that  he  is  denominated  his 
gift;  the  transcendent  greatness  of  which  is  frequently  brought  for- 
ward as  a  demonstration  of  the  ineffable  extent  of  his  love.  God  so 
loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  helieveth 
on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  In  this  was  mani- 
fested the  love  of  God  toivards  us,  because  that  God  sent  his  only-begotten 
Son  into  the  world  that  we  might  live  through  him.  Herein  is  love;  not 
that  we  loved  God,  but  that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  the  pro- 
pitiation for  our  sins.  But  since  he  was  given  to  be  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice,  the  same  intrinsic  dignity  and  excellence  which  heightened 
the  value  of  the  gift  must  have  contributed  in  an  equal  degree  to  ensure 
the  validity  and  sufficiency  of  the  sacrifice. 

Though  many  have  presumed  to  call  in  question  and  even  to  deny  the 
divinity  of  our  Saviour,  I  am  not  aware  that  there  are  any  who  embrace 
thai,  tundamental  doctrine  who  hesitate  for  a  moment  respecting  the  in- 
irinbic  validity  of  his  sacrifice,  or  who  entertain  a  doubt  of  the  sufficiency 
df  sucii  a  provision  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  justice  and  vindicate  the 
Honours  ot  a  broken  law.  There  is  something  so  stupendous  in  the 
*roluntary  humiliation  and  death  of  Him  who  claims  to  be  the  only- 
oegotten  of  the  Father,  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express  image 
of  his  person,  that  to  convince  us  of  the  fact  the  most  powerful  and 
dncquivocal  testimony  is  indispensably  necessary;  but  to  be  convinced 
of  tlie  validity  and  sufficiency  of  such  a  sm-ofl'ering  for  all  the  purposes 
ior  which  an  offering  can  be  made,  to  perceive  it  to  be  the  most  ample 
vnidication  of  the  moral  attributes  of  God,  in  consistence  with  the 
pardon  of  sin  and  the  salvation  of  sinners,  no  effort  is  necessary  what- 
ever :  such  a  persuasion  insinuates  itself  with  the  greatest  ease,  and 
takes  the  firmest  possession  of  the  mind.  He  that  spared  not  his  own 
So?i,  but  freely  gave  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also  freely 
give  us  all  things? 

It  is  observable  that  the  ineffable  grace  of  God  in  the  communication 
of  spiritual  blessings  is  not  more  celebrated  by  the  inspired  penmen 
than  the  stupendous  method  in  which  they  are  imparted.  That  eternal 
life  should  be  bestowed  on  sinful  men  is  the  subject  of  their  devout 
admiration  ;  but  that  it  should  be  bestowed  at  such  a  cost  is  still  more 
so.  They  appear  to  conceive  it  impossible  for  such  an  apparatus  to 
terminate  in  a  less  glorious  result. 

X  cold  and  skeptical  philosophy  may,  I  am  aware,  suggest  specious 
cavils  against  the  doctrines  of  revelation  on  this  subject ;  cavils  which 
derive  all  their  force,  not  from  the  superior  wisdom  of  their  authors, 
but  solely  from  the  inadequacy  of  human  reason  to  the  full  comprehen- 
sion of  heavenly  mysteries.  But  still  there  is  a  simple  grandeur  in 
he  fac^t,  that  God  lias  set  forth  his  Son  to  be  a  propitiation,  sufficient 
to  silence  the  impotent  clamours  of  sophistry,  and  to  carry  to  all 
serious  and  humble  men  a  firm  conviction  that  the  law  is  exalted,  and 
the  justice  of  God  illustriously  vindicated  and  asserted  by  such  an 
expedient.  To  minds  of  that  d(;sfription,  the  immaculate  purity  of  the 
divine  character,  its  aShorrence  of  sin,  and  its  inffexible  adherence  to 


278  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

moral  order  will  present  themselves  in  the  cross  in  a  more  impressive 
light  than  in  any  other  object. 

Eighthly.  However  much  we  might  be  convinced  of  the  competence 
of  vicarious  sutTcriiig  to  accomplish  the  ends  of  justice,  and  whatever 
the  benelils  we  may  derive  from  it,  a  benevolent  mind  could  never  be 
reconciled  to  the  sight  of  virtue  of  the  highest  order  finally  oppressed 
and  consumed  by  its  own  energies  ;  and  the  more  intense  the  admira- 
tion excited  the  more  eager  would  be  the  desire  of  some  compensatory 
arrangement,  some  expedient  by  which  an  ample  retribution  might  be 
assigned  to  such  heroic  sacrifices.  If  the  suffering  t^^  ^le  sn!)stitute 
involved  his  destruction,  what  satisfaction  could  a  gen.  >  u  ■  -uid  feel- 
ing mind  derive  from  impunity  procured  at  such  a  cost  ?  When 
David,  in  an  agony  of  thirst,  longed  for  the  waters  of  Bethlehem,  which 
some  of  his  servants  immediately  procured  for  him  with  the  extreme 
hazard  of  their  lives,  the  monarch  refused  to  taste  it,  exclaiming.  It  is 
the  price  of  blood!  but  poured  it  out  before  the  Lord.  The  felicity 
which  flows  from  the  irreparable  misery  of  another,  and  more  especially 
of  one  whose  disinterested  benevolence  alone  exposed  him  to  it,  will 
be  faintly  relished  by  him  who  is  not  immersed  in  selfishness.  If  there 
be  any  portions  of  history  whose  perusal  affords  more  pure  and 
exquisite  delight  than  others,  they  are  those  which  present  the  spectacle 
of  a  conflicting  and  sell-devoted  virtue,  after  innumerable  toils  and 
dangers  undergone  in  the  cause,  enjoying  a  dignified  repose  in  the 
bosom  of  the  country  Avhich  its  example  has  ennobled  and  its  valour 
saved.  Such  a  spectacle  gratifies  the  best  propensities,  satisfies  the 
highest  demands  of  our  moral  and  social  nature.  It  affords  a  delightfuf 
glimpse  of  the  future  and  perfect  economy  of  retributive  justice. 

In  the  plan  of  human  redemption  this  requisition  is  fully  satisfied. 
While  we  accompany  the  Saviour  through  the  successive  stages  of  his 
mortal  sojourning,  marked  by  a  corresponding  succession  of  trials, 
each  of  which  was  more  severe  than  the  former,  till  the  scene  dark- 
•^'^ed,  and  the  clouds  of  wrath  from  Heaven  and  from  earth  pregnant 
*ith  materials  which  none  but  a  divine  hand  could  have  collected,  dis- 
charged themselves  on  him  in  a  deluge  of  agony  and  of  blood  under 
which  he  expired ;  we  perceive  at  once  the  sufficiency,  I  had  almost 
said  the  redundancy,  of  the  atonement. 

But  surely  deliverance  even  from  the  wrath  to  come  would  afford  an 
imperfect  enjoyment  if  it  were  imbittered  with  the  recollection  that  we 
were  indebted  for  it  to  the  irreparable  destruction  of  our  compassionate 
Redeemer.  The  consolation  arising  from  reconciliation  with  God  is 
su'ject  to  no  such  deduction.  While  we  rejoice  in  the  cross  of 
r.irist  as  the  source  of  pardon,  our  satisfaction  is  heightened  by  be- 
.lolding  it  succeeded  by  the  crown  ;  by  seeing  him  that  wasyor  a  little 
while  made  lower  than  the  angels,  for  the  suffering  of  death  crowned  with 
glory  and  horour,  seated  at  the  right-hand  of  God,  thence  expecting  till 
his  enemies  a^e  made  his  footstool. 

Thus,  wl. ether  we  contemplate  the  economy  of  redemption  as  a 
divine  expedient  for  reconciling  the  moral  attributes  of  Deity  whh 
man's  salvation,  or,  in  its  final  result  to  the  Saviour  himself,  it  is 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  279 

replete  with  moral  coiigruity,  and  satisfies  every  demand  of  the  under- 
standing and  of  the  heart. 

Ninthly.  If  the  principle  of  substitution  be  at  all  admitted  in  tlie 
operations  of  criminal  law,  it  is  too  obvicrt,is  to  require  proof  that  it 
should  be  introduced  very  sparingly,  only  on  very  rare  occasions,  and 
never  be  allowed  to  subside  into  a  settled  course.  So  many  circum- 
stances, we  have  already  seen,  must  concur  to  render  it  fit,  that  the 
attempt  to  make  it  a  matter  of  frequent  and  ordinary  occurrence  would 
be  preposterous  to  the  utmost  degree.  It  requires  some  great  crisis 
to  justify  its  introduction,  some  extraordinary  combination  of  difficulties 
obstructing  the  natural  course  of  justice;  it  requires,  that  while  the 
letter  of  the  law  is  dispensed  with,  its  spirit  be  iiiUy  adhered  to :  so 
that  instead  of  tending  to  weaken  the  motives  to  obedience,  it  shall 
present  a  salutary  monition,  a  moral  and  edifying  spectacle. 

Considerations  such  as  these  are  more  than  enough  to  show  tliat 
such  a  method  of  procedure  must  be  of  rare  occurrence ;  and  that  to 
this  circumstance,  whenever  it  does  occur,  its  utility  must  in  a  great 
measure  be  ascribed. 

The  substitution  of  Christ  in  the  room  of  a  guilty  race  receives  all 
the  advantage  as  an  impressive  spectacle  which  it  is  possible  to  derive 
from  this  circumstance.  He  once  suffered  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world ;  nor  have  we  the  least  reason  to  suppose  any  similar  transac- 
tion has  occurred  on  the  theatre  of  the  universe,  or  will  ever  occur 
again  in  the  annals  of  eternity.  It  stands  amid  the  lapse  of  ages,  and 
the  waste  of  worlds,  a  single  and  solitary  monument. 

From  numerous  intimations  in  sacred  writ,  we  are  compelled  to 
believe  that  in  the  comprehension  of  its  design,  and  the  extent  of  its 
consequences,  afl^ecting  every  order  of  being,  it  leaves  no  room  for  a 
counterpart  or  parallel ;  that  it  is,  so  to  speak,  the  master-piece  of 
infinite  goodness  and  wisdom,  intended  to  exhibit  the  riches  of  divine 
grace  as  an  object  for  the  eternal  contemplation  of  the  highest  intelli- 
gence's. To  the  intent,  that  now  unto  principalities  and  powers,  in 
heavenly  places,  is  the  language  of  Paul,  might  be  made  known  by  the 
church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God. 

Though  the  mystery  of  the  cross  may  be  considered  as  primarily 
terminating  itself  on  the  restoration  of  the  human  race  to  order  and 
happiness,  we  cannot  doubt  for  a  moment  of  its  extending  its  reflected 
lustre  much  farther,  of  its  forming  a  new  epoch  in  the  moral  adminis- 
tration of  tlie  Deity,  and  giving  birth  to  a  new  order  of  things  in  the 
heavenly  world. 

Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  Christianity  is  a  system  which  is 
at  present  but  partially  developed,  in  cqndescension  probably  to  our 
very  limited  faculties,  which  are  incapable  of  comprehending  it  in  its 
full  extent. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  dignity  of  our  Jjord's  person,  the  design  of 
his  sacrifice,  together  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  the  Father  io  gather 
together  in  him  all  things  that  are  in  heaven  or  in  earth,  conspire  to 
place  it  beyond  all  doubt  that  the  substitution  of  Christ  is  a  unique 
event.    With  the  praises  due  to  Him  that  loved  us,  and  was/icd  us  from 


280  ON  THE  SUBSTITUTION  OF 

our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  none  will  have  m.^.rt  to  share ;  nor  will  the 
emotions  of  jrrratifiule,  which  his  matchless  achie/ements  inspire,  ever 
be  dissipatoci  and  impaired  liy  being  dif'tribi'led  amcng  many  objects. 
The  name  of  Jesus  will  rCmain  eiern  lUv  dislmguished  from  every 
other,  as  the  name  to  which  every  knee  i-/;ah  bo:v,  of  things  in  heaven, 
or  things  on  earth. 

Teuthly.  Once  more,  whenever  the  expedient  of  vicarious  suffer- 
"ng  is  adopted,  a  publication  of  the  design  of  chat  transaction  becomes 
as  indispensably  necessary  as  of  the  transaction  itself;  sJnce  none  of 
the  elfects  which  it  is  intended  to  produce  can  be  realized  but  in  pro- 
portion as  that  is  understood.  Viewed  in  itself,  and  corsidrred  apart 
from  this,  it  would  seem  the  height  of  injustice,  and  io  *ho  room  of 
improving  would  give  a  violent  shock  to  our  moral  sentiments.  Pun- 
ishment inflicted  on  the  offending  party  speaks  for  it^selt',  ard  when 
ordained  by  law  impresses  the  spectator  with  an  instantaneous  con- 
viction of  its  justice  and  propriety. 

With  vicarious  punishment  it  is  just  the  reverse.  It  is  a  spectacle 
so  far  removed  from  the  usual  course  of  events,  that  nothinp  can  recon- 
cile the  mind  to  it  but  a  clear  exposure  of  its  origin  and  desipn,  and 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  crisis  which  determined  its  adoption. 

Hence  we  see  the  infinite  importance  of  the  doctrine  of  the  cross, 
that  not  merely  the  fact  of  our  Lord's  death  and  sufferings  should  be 
announced,  but  that  their  object  and  purpose,  as  a  great  moral  expe- 
dient, should  be  published  to  all  nations.  In  vain  would  the  apostles 
have  proclaimed  every  where  the  fact,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  a  per 
son  of  spotless  innocence,  was  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  and  rose 
again  the  third  day,  had  they  suppressed  the  mysterious  design,  the 
moral  aspect  of  those  stupendous  transactions. 

Apart  from  this,  it  would  only  have  added  one  more  to  the  humili- 
ating examples  of  the  purest  virtue  oppressed  with  calunmy,  and 
doomed  to  a  violent,  painful,  and  ignominious  death.  It.  might  have 
3alled  forth  the  tears  of  sensibility,  and  there  it  would  have  ended, 
without  exerting  the  slightest  influence  on  the  prospects,  or  changing 
the  destiny  of  men.  But  the  cross  of  Christ  was  not  exhibited  as  a 
tragic  spectacle,  adapted  to  move  the  commiseration  of  mankind,  and 
excite  their  horror  at  the  perfidy,  cruelt}-,  and  ingratitude  which  were 
the  human  precursors  of  the  means  of  producing  that  catastrophe: 
such  emotion  it  has  already  occasioned,  and  will  to  the  end  of  time ; 
but  all  this  in  perfect  subordination  to  a  higher  order  of  sentiments 
arising  from  the  contemplation  of  his  sufferings  as  the  price  of  our 
redemption.  The  matchless  expedient  which  the  wisdom  of  God, 
prompted  by  infinite  compassjon,  devised  for  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself,  the  facts  which  compose  the  records  of  the  New  Testament, 
ihe  miracles  which  illustrated  the  life  of  our  Saviour,  and  the  prodi- 
gies which  attended  his  death,  important  as  they  are,  viewed  as  the 
seals  attesting  his  mission,  are  only  subsidiary  ;  the  whole  of  these, 
together  with  the  mission  itself,  owe  their  importance  chiefly  to  his 
sacrifice. 

In  the  preceding  ages,  many  intimations  were  afforded  of  this  mys 


THE  INNOCENT  FOR  THE  GUILTY.  281 

tery.  Sin  had  scarcely  made  its  entrance  into  the  world,  before  the 
guilty  pair  were  comforted  by  the  promise  of  a  seed  of  the  woman  that 
should  bruise  the  serpent''s  head.  The  institution  of  vicarious  sacrifices 
immediately  succeeded,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  by  Divine 
appointment.  The  rejection  of  Cain's  offering,  and  the  acceptance  of 
Abel's,  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  the  shedding  of  blood.  A  sys- 
tem of  figurative  rites  and  ceremonies,  intended  as  silent  predictions 
of  the  future,  in  which  bloody  sacrifices  occupied  the  chief  place,  were 
ordained  by  Moses  as  shadows  of  good  things  to  come.  The  succeed- 
ing prophets,  in  long  succession,  proclaimed  the  advent,  and  depicted 
the  character  and  sufferings  of  1dm  that  was  to  come ;  some  with  more 
particularity  and  perspicuity  than  others,  but  each  with  some  trait  or 
colour  peculiar  to  himself;  till  at  length,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  God 
sent  forth  his  Son,  ?nade  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,  that  he  might 
redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that  they  might  receive  the  adop- 
tion of  sons. 

The  doctrine  of  remission  of  sins  through  the  blood  of  that  victim 
which  was  once  offered  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  forms  the  grand 
peculiarity  of  the  gospel,  and  was  the  principal  theme  of  the  apostolic 
ministry,  and  is  still  pre-eminently  the  power  of  God  to  salvation.  It 
is  inculcated  throughout  the  New  Testament  in  every  possible  form, 
it  meets  us  at  every  turn,  and  is,  in  short,  the  sun  and  centre  of  the 
v.hole  system. 

Here,  then,  we  are  permitted  to  explore  and  contemplate  that  mys- 
terious wisdom  of  God  which  was  hidden  in  the  secret  of  his  counsels 
from  preceding  ages  and  generations,  but  is  now  made  manifest  by  the 
preaching  of  the  holy  prophets  and  apostles.  Here  we  behold  the 
Deity  in  Christ  Jesus  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  imputing 
to  them  their  trespasses.  Here  we  discern  the  harmony  of  the  divine 
attributes,  as  they  are  exerted  and  displayed  in  the  astonishing  work 
of  man's  salvation,  the  glory  of  God  shining  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
by  which  saints  are  changed  into  the  same  image  fro7n  glory  to  glory. 
The  cordial  reception,  the  inwrought  persuasion  of  tiiis  doctrine,  can- 
not fail  to  purify  the  heart  and  renovate  the  character.  The  deepest 
conviction  of  the  evil  of  sin  and  the  helplessness  of  the  sinner  is 
necessarily  mvolved  in  the  belief  of  this  all-comprehensive  truth.  For 
what  estimate  of  the  malignity  and  turpitude  of  sin  must  He  have 
formed  who  does  nothing  in  vain,  who  saw  that  nothing  would  suffice 
for  its  expiation  short  of  the  precious  blood  of  his  only-begotten  Son  \ 
And  how  fatal  the  impotence  which  required  to  be  extricated  from  its 
miseries,  to  be  relieved  from  its  burden  at  such  a  cost?  To  create 
man  nothing  was  required  but  a  word,  //■?  spake,  and  it  was  done.  Bui 
to  recover  him  from  the  ruin  in  which  sin  had  involved  him,  it  was 
necessary  for  the  Eternal  Son  to  become  incarnate,  and  the  Lord  cflife 
to  expire  upon  a  cross.  This  is  the  mirror  which  reflects  the  true 
features  and  lineaments  of  moral  evil,  and  displays  more  of  its  demerit 
than  the  most  profound  contemplation  of  the  law,  of  the  purity  of  its 
precepts,  or  the  terror  of  its  sanctions,  could  have  conveyed  to  any 
finite  mind.     In  pouring  its  vials  on  the  head   of  that  innocent  and 


282  ON  THE  SUBSTITION  OF  THE  INNOCENT,  &c. 

adorable  vit-tini,  it  evinced  its  inflexible  severity,  its  awful  majesty,  ic 
an  extent  and  in  a  form  never  conceived  before ;  and  we  may  well 
suppose  that  superior  intelligences  turn  from  the  contemplation  of 
such  a  spectacle  with  a  new  impression  of  the  great  Supreme,  as  a 
just  Goti,  and  yet  a  Saviour. 

He  who  derives  from  this  doctrine  the  smallest  encouragement  to 
sin  has  never  either  felt  or  understood  it  as  he  ought.  He  has  never 
surveyed  it  in  its  most  interesting  aspect,  in  its  relation  to  the  char- 
acter of  God,  the  demands  of  his  law,  and  tlie  immutable  rights  of  his 
moral  administration.  He  has  never,  to  speak  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  seen  the  Son  in  such  a  manner  as  to  believe  on  him ;  and, 
however  he  may  be  persuaded  of  the  death  of  Christ  as  a  fact,  he  is  a 
total  stranger  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified. 

If  the  substitution  of  the  Redeemer  in  the  stead  of  a  guilty  race  is 
admitted,  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  it  is  the  only  foundation  of  human 
hope ;  and  tliat  the  attempt  to  combine  it  with  any  thing  else  as  the 
material  of  justification  must  necessarily  be  abortive.  Nothing  else 
can  possibly  stand  in  the  same  order.  The  merit  of  the  Saviour, 
arising  from  his  matchless  condescension  and  love,  in  becoming  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross,  is  of  so  elevated  and  transcendent 
a  kind,  as  to  disclaim  all  association  with  the  imperfections  of  human 
virtue  as  the  basis  of  justification.  The  price  of  redemption  (to  use  a 
scriptural  metaphor)  has  been  paid  ;  the  justice  of  God  is  satisfied  ;  a 
full  and  complete  atonement  has  been  made.  Nothing  remains  on 
the  part  of  the  penitent  sinner  but  to  receive  the  reconciliation,  and 
with  the  emotions  of  humble  gratitude  to  open  his  heart  to  that  inspi- 
ration of  love  which  naturally  resultn  from  the  reception  of  so  great  a 
benefit. 

The  habitual  contemplation  of  the  cross  of  Christ  will  be  found  the 
most  effectual  expedient  for  weakening  the  power  of  corruption,  resist- 
ing the  seductions  of  the  world,  and  rising  progressively  into  the  image 
of  God  and  the  Redeemer. 

It  will  at  the  same  time  lay  the  deepest  foundation  for  humility. 
He  who  ascribes  his  salvation  to  this  source  will  be  exempted  from 
every  temptation  to  exalt  himself;  and  while  he  rejoices  in  the  ample 
provision  made  for  the  pardon  of  his  sins  and  the  relief  of  his  miseries, 
he  will  join  with  the  utmost  ardour  in  the  song  of  the  redeemed, — 
To  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood, 
xnd  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Father,  to  him  be 
glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 


ON 

TERMS     OF    COMMUNION; 

WITH    A 

PARTICULAR  VIEW  TO  THE  CASE 

OP 

THE    BAPTISTS    AND    PEDOBAPTISTS. 


[PUBUSHBD   IN    1815.] 


"  What  charter  hath  Christ  given  the  church  to  bind  men  up  to,  more  than  himself  hath  done '  o 
to  exclude  those  from  her  society  who  may  be  admitted  into  heaven?  Will  Christ  ever  thanlt  men 
at  the  great  day  for  keiping  such  out  from  communion  with  his  church,  whom  he  will  vouchsafe  not 
only  crowns  of  glory  to,  but  it  may  be  aureoles  too,  if  there  be  any  such  things  there?  The  grave 
commission  the  apostles  were  sent  out  with  was  only  to  teach  ivliat  Chnst  had  commanded  them 
Not  the  least  intimation  of  any  power  given  them  to  impose  or  require  any  thing  beyond  what  himself 
Dad  spoken  to  them,  or  they  were  directed  to  by  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God." 

SxiLI.lNarLEfcT  •    iRtNlCUM 


i'REFACE. 


The  love  of  controversy  was  in  no  degree  the  motive  for  writing  the 
following  sheets.  Controversy  the  writer  considers  as  an  evil,  though 
often  a  necessary  one.  It  is  to  be  deprecated  when  it  is  directed  to 
minate  or  frivolous  objects,  or  when  it  is  managed  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  call  forth  malevolent  passions.  He  hopes  the  ensuing  treatise  will 
be  found  free  from  both  these  objections,  and  that,  as  the  subject  must 
be  allowed  to  be  of  some  importance,  so  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  handled 
is  not  chargeable  with  any  material  departure  from  the  Christian  temper. 
If  the  author  has  expressed  himself  on  some  occasions  with  consider- 
able confidence,  he  trusts  the  reader  will  impute  it,  not  to  a  forgetful- 
ness  of  his  personal  deficiencies,  but  to  the  cause  he  has  undertaken 
to  support.  The  divided  state  of  the  Christian  world  has  long  been 
the  subject  of  painful  reflection  ;  and  if  his  feeble  efforts  might  be  the 
means  'of  uniting  a  small  portion  only  of  it  in  closer  ties,  he  will  feel 
himself  amply  rewarded. 

The  practice  of  incorporating  private  opinions  and  human  inventions 
with  the  constitution  of  a  church,  and  with  the  terms  of  communion, 
has  long  appeared  to  him  untenable  in  its  principle,  and  pernicious  in 
Its  effects.  There  is  no  position  in  the  whole  compass  of  theology  of 
the  truth  of  which  he  feels  a  stronger  persuasion  than  that  no  man,  or 
set  of  men  are  entitled  to  prescribe,  as  an  indispensable  condition  of 
communion,  what  the  New  Testament  has  not  enjoined  as  a  condition 
of  salvation.  To  establish  this  position  is  the  principal  object  of  the 
following  work ;  and  though  it  is  more  immediately  occupied  in  the 
discussion  of  a  case  which  respects  the  Baptists  and  Pedobaptists,  that 
case  is  attempted  to  be  decided  entirely  upon  the  principle  now  men- 
tioned, and  is  no  more  than  the  application  of  it  to  a  particular  instance. 

The  writer  is  persuaded  that  a  departure  from  this  principle  in  the 
denomination  to  which  he  belongs  has  been  extremely  injurious,  not 
only  to  the  credit  and  prosperity  of  that  particular  body  (which  is  a 
very  subordinate  consideration),  but  to  the  general  interests  of  truth ; 
and  that  but  for  the  obstruction  arising  from  that  quarter,  the  views  they 
entertain  of  one  of  the  sacraments  would  have  obtained  a  more  exten- 
sive prevalence.  By  keeping  themselves  in  a  state  of  separation  and 
seclusion  from  other  Christians,  they  have  not  only  evinced  an  inatten- 
tion to  some  of  the  most  important  injunctions  of  Scripture,  but  have 
raised  up  an  invincible  barrier  to  the  propagation  of  their  sentiments 
beyond  the  precincts  of  their  own  party. 


\>86  PREFACE. 

It  has  been  insinuated  tliat  the  author  has  taken  an  unfair  advantage 
of  his  opponents,  by  ehoosing  to  bring  forward  this  disquisition  just  at 
the  moment  when  we  have  to  himent  the  loss  of  a  person  whose  judg- 
ment would  liave  disposed,  and  his  abilities  enabled  him  to  do  ample 
justice  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  question.  He  can  assure  his  readers 
that  none  entertained  a  higher  veneration  for  Mr.  Fuller  than  himself, 
notwithstanding  their  difference  of  sentiment  on  this  subject ;  and  that 
when  he  entered  on  this  discussion,  it  was  with  the  fullest  expectation 
of  having  his  opposition  to  encounter.  At  that  time  his  state  of  health, 
though  not  good,  was  such  as  suggested  a  hope  that  the  event  was  very 
distant  which  we  all  deplore.  Having  been  led  to  mention  this  affect 
ing  circumstance,  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  in  a  few  words  the 
sentiments  of  affectionate  veneration  with  which  I  also  regarded  that  ex- 
cellent person  while  living,  and  cherish  his  memory  now  that  he  is  no 
more ;  a  man  whose  sagacity  enabled  him  to  penetrate  to  the  depths 
of  every  subject  he  explored,  whose  conceptions  were  so  powerful  and 
iUminous  that  what  was  recondite  and  original  appeared  familiar ; 
what  was  intricate,  easy  and  perspicuous  in  his  hands ;  equally  suc- 
cessful in  enforcing  the  practical,  in  stating  the  theoretical,  and  discussing 
the  polemical  branches  of  theology ;  without  the  advantage  of  early 
education,  he  rose  to  high  distinction  among  the  religious  writers  of  his 
day,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  most  active  and  laborious  life,  left  monu- 
ments of  his  piety  and  genius  which  will  survive  to  distant  posterity 
Were  I  making  his  eulogium  I  should  necessarily  dwell  on  the  spotless 
integrity  of  his  private  life,  his  fidelity  and  friendship,  his  neglect  of 
self-interest,  his  ardent  attachment  to  truth,  and  especially  the  series 
of  unceasing  labours  and  exertions  in  superintending  the  mission  to 
India,  to  which  he  most  probably  fell  a  victim.  He  had  nothing  feeble 
or  undecisive  in  his  character,  but  to  every  undertaking  in  which  he 
engaged  he  brought  all  the  powers  of  his  understanding,  all  the  ener- 
gies of  his  heart ;  and  if  he  were  less  distinguished  by  the  compj-ehen- 
sion  than  the  acumen  and  solidity  of  his  thoughts ;  less  eminent  for 
the  gentler  graces  than  for  stern  integrity  and  native  grandeur  of  mind, 
we  have  only  to  remember  the  necessary  limitations  of  human  excel- 
.ence.  While  he  endeared  himself  to  his  denomination  by  a  long 
course  of  most  useful  labour  ;  by  his  excellent  works  on  the  Socinian 
and  Deistical  controversies,  as  well  as  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, he  •  laid  the  world  under  lasting  obligations.  Though  he  was 
known  to  profess  different  views  from  the  writer  on  the  subject  under 
present  discussion,  it  may  be  inferred  from  a  decisive  fact,  which  it  is 
not  necessary  to  record,  that  his  attachment  to  them  was  not  very 
strong,  nor  his  conviction  probably  very  powerful.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
his  sanction  of  the  practice  of  exclusive  communion  has  no  doubt  con- 
tributed in  no  small  degree  to  recommend  it  to  the  denomination  of 
which  he  was  so  distinguished  an  ornament.  They  who  are  the  first 
to  disclaim  human  authority  in  the  affairs  of  religion,  are  not  always 
least  susceptible  of  its  influence. 

It  is  observable,  also,  that  bodies  of  men  are  very  slow  in  changing 
their  opinions,  which,  with  some  inconveniences,  is  productive  of  this 


PREFACE.  287 

advantage,  that  truth  undergoes  a  severer  investigation,  and  her  con- 
quests are  the  more  permanent  for  being  gradually  acquired.  On  this 
account  the  writer  is  not  so  sanguine  as  to  expect  his  performance  will 
occasion  any  sudden  revolution  in  the  sentiments  and  practice  of  the 
class  of  Christians  more  immediately  concerned ;  if,  along  with  other 
causes,  it  ultimately  contribute  to  so  desirable  an  issue,  he  will  be 
satisfied. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  assign  the  reason  for  not  noticing  the 
treatise  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Robinson,  of  Cambridge,  on  the  same 
subject.  It  is  not  because  he  is  insensible  to  the  ingenuity  and  beauty 
of  that  performance,  as  well  as  of  the  other  works  of  that  original  and 
extraordinary  writer ;  but  because  it  rests  on  principles  more  lax  and 
latitudinarian  than  it  is  in  his  power  conscientiously  to  adopt ;  Mr.  R. 
not  having  adverted,  as  far  as  he  perceives,  to  the  distinction  of  funda- 
mentals, but  constructed  his  plea  for  toleration*  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
comprehend  all  the  varieties  of  religious  belief. 

The  only  author  I  have  professed  to  answer  is  the  late  venerable 
Booth,  his  treatise  being  generally  considered  by  our  opponents  as  the 
ablest  defence  of  their  hypothesis. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  I  commit  the  following  treatise  to  the  can- 
dou*-  of  the  public,  and  the  blessing  of  God,  hoping  that,  as  it  is  de- 
signed not  to  excite  but  to  allay  animosities,  not  to  widen  but  to  heal 
the  breaches  among  Christians,  it  will  meet  with  the  indulgence  due  to 
good  intentions,  however  feebly  executed. 

*  The  ititelligenl  reader  will  understand  me  to  refer,  not  to  civil  toleration  by  the  state,  but  to  tha 
which  is  exercised  by  religious  societies. 


ON  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 


INTRODUCTORY    REMARKS. 


WfiOEVER  forms  his  ideas  of  tlie  Church  of  Christ  from  an  attemive 
perusal  of  the  New  Testament  vvill  perceive  that  unily  is  one  of  its 
essential  characteristics  ;  and  that,  though  it  be  branched  out  into  many 
distinct  societies,  it  is  still  but  one.  "  The  Church,"  says  Cyprian, 
"is  one  which  by  reason  of  its  fecundity  is  extended  into  a  multitude, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  rays  of  the  sun,  however  numerous,  consti- 
tute but  one  light ;  and  the  branches  of  a  tree,  however  many,  are 
attached  to  one  trunk,  which  is  supported  by  its  tenacious  root ;  and 
when  various  rivers  flow  from  the  same  fountain,  though  number  is 
diffused  by  the  redundant  supply  of  waters,  unity  is  preserved  in  their 
origin."  Nothing  more  abhorrent  from  the  principles  and  maxims  of 
the  sacred  oracles  can  be  conceived,  than  the  idea  of  a  plurality  of  true 
churches,  neither  in  actual  communion  with  each  other,  nor  in  a  ca- 
pacity for  such  communion.  Though  this  rending  of  the  seamless 
garment  of  our  Saviour,  this  schism  in  the  members  of  his  mystical 
body,  is  by  far  the  greatest  calamity  which  has  befallen  the  Christian 
interest,  and  one  of  the  most  fatal  effects  of  the  great  apostacy  foretold 
by  the  sacred  penmen,  we  have  been  so  long  familiarized  to  it  as  to  be 
scarcely  sensii)le  of  its  enormity ;  nor  does  it  excite  surprise  or  con- 
cern in  any  degree  proportioned  to  what  would  be  felt  by  one  who 
had  contemplated  the  church  in  the  first  ages.  Christian  societies 
regarding  each  other  with  the  jealousies  of  rival  empires,  each  aiming 
to  raise  itself  on  the  ruin  of  all  others,  making  extravagant  boasts  of 
superior  purity,  generally  in  exact  proportion  to  their  departures  from 
it,  and  scarcely  deigning  to  acknowledge  the  possibility  of  obtaining 
salvation  out  of  their  pale,  is  the  odious  and  disgusting  spectacle  which 
modern  Christianity  presents.  The  bond  of  charity,  which  unites 
the  genuine  followers  of  Christ  in  distinction  from  the  world,  is  dis- 
solved, and  the  very  terms  by  which  it  was  wont  to  be  denoted, 
exclusively  employed  to  express  a  predilection  for  a  sect.  The  evils 
which  result  from  this  state  of  division  are  incalculable :  it  supplies 
infidels  with  their  most  plausible  topics  of  invective  ;  it  hardens  the 
conscieiu;es  of  the  irreligious,  weakens  the  hands  of  the  good,  inii)edcs  the 
efficacy  of  prayer,  and  is  probably  the  principal  obstruction  to  that  ample 
effusion  of  the  Spirit  which  is  essential  to  the  renovation  of  the  world. 

Ii  is  easier,  however,  it  is  confessed,  to  deplore  the  malady  tlian  to 
prescrii)e  the  cure  :  for  however  important  the  preservation  of  harmony 
and  peace,  the  interests  of  truth  and  holiness  are  still  more  so ;  not 
must  we  fortjet  the  order  in  which  the    races  of  the  Spirit  are  arranged 

Vol.  I.— r 


290  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

"  The  wistlom  whicli  is  from  above  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable.^'  Peace 
should  be  anxiously  sought,  bdi  always  in  subordination  to  purity,  and 
iherelbre  every  attempt  to  reconcile  the  difl'erences  among  Christians 
which  involves  the  sacrifice  of  truth,  or  the  least  deliberate  deviation  i'rom 
the  revealed  will  of  Christ,  is  spurious  in  its  origin,  and  dangerous  in  its 
tendency.  If  communion  with  a  Clu'istian  society  cannot  be  had  without 
a  compliance  with  rites  and  usages  which  we  deem  idolatrous  or  super- 
stitious, or  without  a  surrender  of  that  liberty  in  which  we  are  commiuuled 
to  stand  fast,  we  must,  as  we  value  our  allegiance,  forego,  however  reluc- 
tantly, the  advantages  of  such  a  union.  Wherever  purity  and  sim- 
plicity of  worship  are  violated  by  the  heterogeneous  mixture  of  human 
inventions,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  comply  with  them  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  because  the  first  consideration  in  every  act  of  worship  is  its 
correspondence  with  the  revealed  will  of  God,  which  will  often  justify 
us  in  declining  the  external  communion  of  a  church  with  which  we  cease 
lot  to  cultivate  a  communion  in  spirit.  It  is  one  thing  to  decline  a 
connexion  with  the  members  of  a  community  absolutely,  or  simply 
because  they  belong  to  such  a  community,  and  another  to  join  with 
them  in  practices  which  we  deem  superstitious  and  erroneous.  In  the 
latter  instance,  we  cannot  be  said  absolutely  to  refuse  a  connexion  with 
the  pious  part  of  such  societies  ;  we  decline  it  merely  because  it  i& 
clogged  with  conditions  which  render  it  impracticable.  It  is  impossible 
for  a  Protestant  dissenter,  for  example,  without  manifest  inconsistency, 
to  become  a  member  of  the  established  church  ;  but  to  admit  the  mem- 
bers of  that  community  to  participate  at  the  Lord's  table,  without 
demanding  a  formal  renunciation  of  their  peculiar  sentiments,  includes 
nothing  contradictory  or  repugnant.  The  cases  are  totally  distinct,  and 
the  reasons  which  woidd  apply  forcibly  against  the  former  would  be 
irrelevant  to  the  latter.  In  the  first  supposition,  the  dissenter,  by  an 
active  concurrence  in  what  he  professes  to  disapprove,  ceases  to  dissent ; 
in  the  last  no  principle  is  violated,  no  practice  is  altered,  no  innovation 
is  introduced. 

Hence  arises  a  question,  how  far  we  are  justified  in  repelling  from 
our  coiunumion  those  froiu  whom  we  difi^er  on  matters  confessedly  not 
essential  to  salvation,  when  that  communion  is  accompanied  with  no 
innovation  in  the  rites  of  w'orship,  merely  on  account  of  a  diversity  of  sen- 
timent on  other  subjects.  In  other  words,  are  we  at  liberty,  or  are  we 
not,  to  walk  with  our  Christian  brethren,  as  far  as  we  are  agreed,  or  must 
we  renounce  their  fellowship  on  account  of  error  allowed  not  to  be  funda- 
mental, although  nothing  is  proposed  to  be  done,  or  omitted,  in  such 
acts  of  communion,  which  would  not  equally  be  done,  or  omitted,  on 
the  supposition  of  their  absence.  Such  is  the  precise  state  of  the 
question  which  it  is  my  intention  to  discuss  in  these  pages ;  and  it  may 
possibly  contribute  to  its  elucidation  to  observe,  that  the  true  idea  of 
Christian  communion  is  by  no  means  confined  to  a  joint  participation 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  who  in  the  words  of  the  apostles'  creed 
expresses  his  belief  in  the  communion  of  saints,  adverts  to  much  more 
than  is  comprehended  in  one  particular  act.  In  an  intelligent  assent  to 
that  article  is  comprehended  the  total  of  that  sympathy  and  affection, 
with  all  its  natural  expressions  and  effects,  by  which  the  followers  oi 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  291 

Christ  are  united,  in  consequence  of  their  union  with  their  Head,  and 
thfcii  joint  share  in  the'  common  salvation.  The  kiss  of  charity  in  the 
apostolic  age,  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  a  share  in  the  oblations  of 
the  church,  a  commendatory  epistle  attesting  the  exemplary  character  of 
the  bearer,  uniting  in  social  prayer,  the  employment  of  the  term  brother  or 
sister  to  denote  spiritual  consanguinity,  were  all  considered  in  the  purest 
ages  as  tokens  of  communion ;  a  term  which  is  never  applied  in  the  New 
Testament  exclusively  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  When  it  is  used  in  con- 
nexion with  that  rite,  it  is  employed,  not  to  denote  the  fellowship  of  Chris- 
tians, but  the  spiritual  participation  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.* 

When  we  engage  a  Christian  brother  to  present  supplications  to  God 
'  in  our  behalf  it,  cannot  be  doubted  that  we  have  fellowship  with  him, 
not  less  real  or  spiritual  than  at  the  Lord's  table.  From  these  con- 
siderations it  is  natural  to  infer,  that  no  scruple  ought  to  be  entertained 
respecting  the  lawfulness  of  uniting  to  commemorate  our  Saviour's  death 
with  those  with  whom  we  feel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  join  in  every  other 
branch  of  religious  worship.  Where  no  attempt  is  made  to  obscure  its 
import,  or  impair  its  simplicity,  by  the  introduction  of  human  ceremonies, 
but  it  is  proposed  to  be  celebrated  in  the  manner  which  we  apprehend 
to  be  perfectly  consonant  to  the  mind  of  Christ,  it  would  seem  less 
reasonable  to  refuse  to  co-operate  in  this  branch  of  religion  than  in  any 
other,  because  it  is  appointed  to  be  a  memorial  of  the  greatest  instance 
of  love  that  was  ever  exhibited,  as  well  as  the  principal  pledge  of 
Christian  fraternity.  It  must  appear  surprising  that  the  rite  which  of 
all  others  is  most  adapted  to  cement  mutual  attachment,  and  which  is 
m  a  great  measure  appointed  for  that  purpose,  should  be  fixed  upon  as 
the  line  of  demarkation,  the  impassable  barrier,  to  separate  and  disjoin 
the  followers  of  Christ.  He  who  admits  his  fellow-christians  to  share 
in  every  other  spiritual  privilege,  while  he  prohibits  his  approach  to  the 
Lord's  table,  entertains  a  view  of  that  institution  diametrically  opposite 
to  what  has  usually  prevailed;  he  must  consider  it  not  so  much  in  the 
light  of  a  commemoration  of  his  Saviour's  death  and  passion,  as  a 
religious  test,  designed  to  ascertain  and  establish  an  agreement  in  points 
not  fundamental.  According  to  this  notion  of  it,  it  is  no  longer  a  symbol 
of  our  common  Chris,tianity,  it  is  the  badge  and  criterion  of  a  party,  a 
mark  of  discrimination  applied  to  distinguish  the  nicer  shades  of  difference 
among  Christians.  How  far  either  Scripture  or  reason  can  be  adduced 
in  support  of  such  a  view  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  the  business  of  the 
following  pages  to  inquire. 

In  the  mean  while  it  will  be  necessary,  in  order  to  render  the  argu- 
ment perfectly  intelligible,  to  premise  a  few  words  respecting  the  par- 
ticular controversy  on  which  the  ensuing  observations  are  meant  espe- 
cially to  bear.  Few  of  my  readers  probably  require  to  be  informed, 
that  there  is  a  class  of  Christians  pretty  widely  diffused  through  these 
realms,  who  deny  the  validity  of  infant  baptism,  considering  it  as  a 
human  invention,  not  countenanced  by  the  Scriptures,  nor  by  the  prac- 
tice of  the  iirst  and  purest  ages.  Besides  their  denial  of  the  right  of 
infants  to  baptism  they  also  contend  for  the  exclusive  validity  of  im- 

'  1  Cor.  X.  16. 

T2 


292  TERMS  t  F  COMMUNION. 

mcrsion  in  that  ordinanco,  in  distinction  from  the  sprinkling  or  pouring 
of  water.  In  support  of  tlie  former,  tliey  allege  the  total  silence  of 
Scriiitnre  respecting  the  haptisni  of  infants,  together  witli  their  incom- 
petency to  coinpreliend  the  truths,  or  sustain  the  engagements,  -which 
they  conceive  it  designed  to  exhibit.  For  the  latter,  they  urge  the  well- 
known  import  of  the  original  word  employed  to  express  the  baptismal 
rite,  which  they  allege  cannot,  without  the  most  unnatural  violence,  be 
understood  to  command  any  thing  less  than  an  immersion  of  the  whoh 
i  ody.  The  class  of  Christians  whose  sentiments  I  am  relating,  art 
usually  known  by  the  appellation  of  Baptists ;  in  contradistinction  from 
whoiu  all  other  Christians  may  properly  be  denominated  Pedohaptists. 
It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  a  defence  of  their  peculiar  tenets, 
though  they  have  my  unqualified  approbation  ;  but  merely  to  st  ce  them 
lor  tiie  information  of  my  readers.  It  must  be  obvious  that  in  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Baptists,  such  as  have  only  received  the  baptismal  rite  in 
their  infancy  must  be  deemed  in  reality  tmbaptized ;  for  this  is  only  a 
different  mode  of  expressing  their  conviction  of  the  invalidity  of  infant 
sprinkling.  On  this  ground  they  have  for  the  most  part  confined  their 
communion  to  persons  of  their  own  persuasion,  in  which,  illiberal  as  it 
may  appear,  they  are  supported  by  the  general  practice  of  the  Christian 
world,  which,  whatever  diversities  of  opinion  may  have  prevailed,  has 
generally  concurred  in  insisting  upon  baptism  as  an  indispensable  pre 
requisite"  to  the  Lord's  table.  The  effect  which  has  resulted  in  this, 
particular  case  has  indeed  been  singular,  but  it  has  arisen  from  a  rigid 
adherence  to  a  principle,  almost  universally  adopted,  that  baptism  is 
mider  all  circumstances,  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
The  practice  we  are  now  specifying  has  usually  been  termed  strict 
communion.,  while  the  opposite  practice  of  admitting  sincere  Christians 
to  the  Eucharist,  though  in  our  judgment  not  baptized,  is  styled  fret 
communion.  Strict  communion  is  the  general  practice  of  our  churches, 
though  the  abetters  of  the  opposite  opinion  are  rapidly  increasing  both 
in  numbers  and  in  respectability.  'J'he  humble  hope  of  casting  some 
additional  light  on  a  subject  which  appears  to  me  of  no  trivial  im- 
portance is  my  only  motive  for  composing  this  treatise,  in  which  it  will 
be  necessary  to  attempt  the  establishment  of  principles  sufficiently  com 
prehensive  to  decide  other  questions  in  ecclesiastical  polity,  besides 
those  which  concern  the  present  controversy.  I  am  greatly  mistaken 
if  it  be  possible  to  bring  it  to  a  satisfactory  issue,  without  adverting  to 
topics  in  which  the  Christian  world  are  not  less  interested  than  the 
Baptists.  If  the  conclusions  we  shall  endeavour  to  establish,  appear 
on  impartial  inquiry  to  be  well  founded,  it  will  follow  that  serious  errors 
respecting  terms  of  communion  have  prevailed  to  a  wide  extent  in  the 
Christian  church.  It  will  be  my  anxious  endeavour,  in  the  progress  of 
this  discussion,  to  avoid  whatever  is  calculated  to  irritate  ;  and,  instead 
of  acting  the  part  of  a  pleader,  to  advance  no  argument  which  has  not 
been  well  weighed,  and  of  whose  validity  I  am  not  perfectly  convinced. 
The  inquiry  will  be  pursued  under  two  parts :  in  the  first,  I  sh«ll  con- 
sider the  arguments  in  favour  of  strict  communion  ;  in  the  second,  state, 
with  all  possible  brevity,  the  evidence  by  which  we  attempt  to  sustain 
liie  opposite  practice. 


TERMS  OF  COMMTINION.  293 

PART   I. 

ARGUMENTS  FOR  STRICT  COMMUNION  CONSIDERED. 

In  reviewing  the  arguments  which  are  usually  urged  for  the  practice 
of  strict  communion,  or  the  exclusion  of  unbaplized  persons  from  the 
Lord's  table,  I  shall  chiefly  confine  myself  to  the  examination  of  such 
as  are  adduced  by  the  venerable  Mr.  Booth,  in  his  treatise  styled  "An 
Apology  for  the  Baptists,"  because  he  is  not  only  held  in  the  highest 
esteem  by  the  whole  denomination,  but  is  allowed  by  his  partisans  to 
have  exhib-ited  the  full  force  of  their  cause.  He  writes  on  the  subject 
under  discussion  with  all  his  constitutional  ardour  and  confidence ; 
which,  supported  by  the  spotless  integrity  and  elevated  sanctity  of  the 
man,  have  contributed,  more  perhaps  than  any  other  cause,  to  fortify  the 
Baptists  in  their  prevailing  practice.  I  trust  the  free  strictures  which  it 
will  be  necessary  to  make  on  his  performance,  will  not  be  deemed  incon- 
sistent with  a  sincere  veneration  for  his  character,  which  I  should  be 
sorry  to  see  treated  with  the  unsparing  ridicule  and  banter  with  which 
he  has  assailed  Mr.  Bunyan,  a  name  equally  dear  to  genius  and  to 
piety.  The  reader  will  not  expect  me  to  follow  him  in  his  declamatory 
excursions,  or  in  those  miscellaneous  quotations,  often  irrelevant, 
which  the  extent  of  his  reading  has  supplied :  it  will  suffice  if  I  care- 
ndly  examine  his  arguments,  without  omitting  a  single  consideration  on 
which  he  could  be  supposed  to  lay  a  stress. 

SECTION    I. 

The  argument  from  the  Order  of  Time  irb- which  Baptism  and  theLord^s 
Supper  are  supposed  to  have  been  instituted. 

One  of  the  principal  pleas  in  favour  of  strict  comvmnion  is  derived 
f:om  the  supposed  priority  of  the  institution  of  baptism  to  the  Lord's 
Supper.  "  That  baptism  was  an  or(hnance  of  God,"  say  our  opponents, 
"that  submission  to  it  was  required,  that  it  was  administered  to  nmlti- 
tudes  before  the  sacred  supper  was  heard  of,  are  undeniable  facts. 
There  never  was  a  time  since  the  ministry  of  our  Lord's  successors,  in 
which  it  was  not  the  dutv  of  repenting  and  believing  sinners  to  be  bap- 
tized. The  venerable  John,  the  twelve  apostles,  and  the  Son  of  God 
mcarnate,  all  united  in  commanding  baptism,  at  a  time  when  it  would 
have  been  impious  to  have  eaten  bread,  and  drank  wine,  as  an  or- 
dinance of  divine  worship.  Baptism,  therefore,  had  the  priority  in 
point  of  institution  ;  which  is  a  presumptive  evidence  that  it  has,  and 
ever  wil!  have,  a  prior  claim  to  our  obedience.  So  under  the  ancient 
economy  sacrifices  and  circumcision  were  appointed  and  practised  in 
d'e  patriarchal  ag^s :    in  the  time  of  Moses,  the  paschal  feast,  and 


294  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

hurnini^  incense  in  the  lioly  place,  were  appointed  by  the  God  of  Israel 
/Jut  tho  two  former,  beino  prior  in  point  of  institution,  always  had  the 
priority  in  point  of  adniiniistration."* 

As  this  is  a  leading  argument,  and  will  go  far  towards  determining 
the  point  at  issue,  the  reader  will  excuse  the  examination  of  it  being 
extended  to  some  length.  It  proceeds,  obviously,  entirely  on  a  matter 
of  fact,  which  it  assumes  as  undeniable,  the  priority  in  point  of  time  of 
the  institution  of  Christian  baptism  to  tiiat  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  and 
this  again  rests  on  another  assumption,  which  is  the  identity  of  John's 
baptism  with  that  of  our  Lord.  If  it  should  clearly  appear  that  these 
were  two  distinct  institutes,  the  argument  will  be  reversed,  and  it  will  be 
evident  that  the  Eucharist  was  appointed  and  celebrated  before  Christian 
baptism  existed.  Let  me  request  the  reader  not  to  be  startled  at  the 
paradoxical  air  of  this  assertion,  but  to  lend  an  impartial  attention  to 
the  following  reasons  : 

1.  The  commission  to  baptize  all  nations,  which  was  executed  by 
the  apostles  after  our  Saviour's  resurrection,  originated  in  his  express 
command ;  John's  baptism,  it  is  evident,  had  no  such  origin.  John  had 
baptized  for  some  time  before  he  knew  him ;  it  is  certain,  then,  that  he 
did  not  receive  his  commission  from  him.  "  And  I  knew  him  not," 
saith  he,  "  but  that  he  should  be  made  manifest  lo  Israel,  therefore  am 
I  come  baptizing  with  water."  If  the  manifesting  Christ  to  Israel  was 
the  end  and  design  of  John's  mission,  he  must  have  been  in  a  previous 
state  of  obscurity ;  not  in  a  situation  to  act  the  part  of  a  legislator  by 
enacting  laws  or  establishing  rites.  John  uniformly  ascribes  his  com- 
mission, not  to  Christ,  but  the  Father,  so  that  to  assert  his  baptism  to  be 
a  Christian  institute,  is  not  to  interpret,  but  to  contradict  him.  "  And  I 
knew  him  not,"  is  his  language,  "but  he  that  sent  me  to  baptize  with 
water,  the  same  said  unto  me,  Upon  whom  thou  shalt  see  the  Spirit 
descending  and  remaining  on  him,  the  same  is  he  which  baptizeth  with 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  I  saw,  and  bear  record,  that  this  is  the  Son  of 
God."  It  was  not  till  he  had  accredited  his  mission  by  many  miracles, 
and  other  demonstrations  of  a  preternatural  power  and  wisdom,  that  our 
Lord  proceeded  to  modify  religion  by  new  institutions,  of  which  the 
Eucharist  is  the  first  example.  But  a  Christian  ordinance  not  founded 
on  the  authority  of  Christ,  not  the  effect,  but  the  means  of  his  manifes- 
tation, and  which  w^as  first  executed  by  one  who  knew  him  not,  is  to 
me  an  incomprehensible  mystery. 

2.  The  baptism  of  John  was  the  baptism  of  repentance,  or  reforma- 
tion, as  a  preparation  for  the  approaching  kingdom  of  God :  the  insti- 
tute of  Clirist  included  an  explicit  profession  of  faith  in  a  particular 
person,  as  the  Lord  of  that  kmgdom.  The  ministry  of  John  was  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  make  his  paths  straight."  All  he  demanded  of  such  as  repaired 
to  him  was,  to  declare  their  conviction  that  the  Messiah  was  shortly  to 
appear,  to  repent  of  their  sins,  and  resolve  to  frame  their  lives  in  a 
manner  agreeable  to  such  an  expectation,  without  requiring  a  belief  in 

♦  Booth's  Apology,  page  41. 


S  OF  COMMUNION.  295 

any  existing  individual  as  the  Messiah.  They  were  merely  to  express 
their  readiness  to  believe  on  him  vho  was  to  come*  on  the  reasonable 
supposition  that  his  actual  appearance  would  not  fail  to  be  accom- 
panied with  attestations  sufficient  to  establish  his  pretensions.  The 
profession  required  in  a  candidate  for  Christian  baptism,  involved  an 
historical  faith,  a  belief  in  a  certain  individual,  an  illustrious  personage, 
who  had  wrought  miracles,  declared  himself  the  Son  of  God,  was  cru- 
cified under  Pontius  Pilate,  and  rose  again  the  third  day.  As  the  con- 
viction demanded  in  the  two  cases  was  totally  distinct,  it  was  possible 
for  him  who  sincerely  avowed  the  one  to  be  destitute  of  the  other;  and 
though  the  rejection  of  Christ  by  John's  converts  would  have  been 
criminal  and  destructive  of  salvation,  it  would  not  have  been  self-con- 
tradictory, or  absurd,  since  he  might  sincerely  believe  on  his  testimony 
that  the  Christ  was  shortly  to  appear,  and  make  some  preparations  for 
his  approach,  who  was  not  satisfied  with  his  character  when  he  was 
actually  manifested. 

That  such  was  the  real  situation  of  the  great  body  of  the  Jewish 
people  at  our  Lord's  advent  is  evident  from  the  evangelical  records. 
In  short,  the  profession  demanded  in  the  baptism  of  John  was  nothing 
more  than  a  solemn  recognition  of  that  great  article  of  the  Jewish  faith, 
the  appearance  of  the  Messiah,  accompanied,  indeed,  with  th's  addi- 
tional circumstance,  that  it  was  nigh  at  hand.  The  faith  recphred  by 
ihe  apostles  included  a  persuasion  of  all  the  miraculous  facts  which 
they  attested,  comprehending  the  preternatural  conception,  the  deity, 
mcarnation,  and  atonement,  tlie  miracles,  the  death,  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  Lord  Jesiis.  Li  the  one  was  contahied  a  general  expectation  of 
the  speedy  appearance  of  an  illustrious  person  under  the  character 
of  the  Messiah ;  in  the  other,  an  explicit  declaration  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  whose  life  and  death  are  recorded  in  the  evangelists,  was  the 
identical  person.  But  in  order  to  constitute  an  identity  in  religious  rites 
two  things  are  requisite — a  sameness  in  the  corporeal  action,  and  a  same- 
ness in  the  import.  The  action  may  bg  the  same,  yet  the  rites  totally 
different,  or  Christian  baptism  must  be  confounded  with  legal  Jewish 
purifications,  the  greater  part  of  which  consisted  in  a  total  immersion 
of  the  body  in  water.  The  divershy  of  signification,  the  distinct  uses 
to  which  they  were  applied,  constitute  their  only  diflerence,  but  quite 
sufficient  to  render  it  absurd  to  consider  them  as  one  and  the  same. 
And  surely  he  is  guilty  of  a  similar  mistake  who,  misled  by  the  exact 
resemblance  of  the  actions  physically  considered,  confounds  the  rite 
intended  to  announce  the  future  though  speedy  appearance  of  the  Mes- 
siah, without  defining  his  person,  and  the  ceremony  expressive  of  a  firm 
belief  in  an  identical  person,  as  already  manifested  under  that  illustrious 
character. 

3.  Christian  baptism  was  invariably  administered  in  the  na?ne  of 
Jesus ;  while,  there  is  sufficient  evidence  that  John's  was  not  performed 
in  that  name.  That  it  was  not  during  the  first  stage  of  his  ministry  is 
certain,  because  we  learn  from  his  own  declaration,  that  when  he  first 

*  Acts  xix.  4. 


296  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

executed  his  commission  he  did  not  know  him,  but  was  previously  ap- 
prized of  a  niiracidous  sign,  which  shoukl  serve  to  idonlify  him  when  he 
appeared.  In  order  to  obviate  tiic  suspicion  of  colhision  or  conspiracy, 
circumstances  were  so  arranged  that  John  remained  ignorant  of"  tlae 
person  of  the  Saviour,  and  possessed,  at  ihe  commencement  of  his 
career,  that  knowledge  only  of  the  Messiah  which  was  common  to 
enlioiuened  Jews.  If  we  suppose  him  at  a  subsequent  period  to  have 
incorporated  the  name  of  Jesus  with  his  institute,  an  alteration  so 
striking  woidd  unquestionably  have  been  noticed  by  the  evangelists,  as 
it  must  have  occasioned  among  the  people  much  speculation  and  sur- 
prise, of  which,  however,  no  traces  are  perceptible.  Besides,  it  is  im- 
possible to  peruse  the  gospels  with  attention  without  remarking  the 
extreme  reserve  maintained  by  our  Lord  with  respect  to  his  claim  to 
the  character  of  Messiah  ;  that  he  studiously  avoided,  until  his  arraign- 
ment before  the  high-priest,  the  public  declaration  of  that  fact;  that  he 
wrought  his  principal  miracles  in  the  obscure  province  of  Galilee,  often 
accompanied  with  strict  injunctions  of  secrecy ;  and  that  the  whole 
course  of  his  ministry,  till  its  concluding  scene,  was  so  conducted  as  at 
once  to  alTord  sincere  inquirers  sufficient  evidence  of  his  mission,  and 
to  elude  the  malice  of  his  enemies.  In  descending  from  the  mount  of 
transfiguration,  where  he  had  been  proclaimed  the  Son  of  God  from 
the  most  excellent  glory,  he  strictly  charged  the  disciples  who  accom- 
panied him  to  tell  no  man  of  it  till  he  w^as  raised  from  the  dead.  The 
appellation  he  constantly  assumed  was  that  of  the  Son  of  man,  which, 
whatever  be  its  precise  import,  could  by  no  construction  become  the 
orround  of  a  criminal  charge.  When  at  the  feast  of  dedication,  "  the 
Jews  came  around  him  in  the  temple,  saying.  How  long  dost  thou  keep 
us  in  suspense?  if  thou  be  the  Christ,  tell  us  plainly  :"  he  replied,  "I 
have  told  you,  and  ye  believe  not :  the  works  which  I  do  in  my  Father's 
name,  they  bear  witness  of  me."*  From  this  passage  it  is  evident  that 
our  Lord  had  not  hitherto  publicly  and  explicitly  affirmed  himself  to  be 
the  Messiah,  or  there  would  have  been  no  foundation  for  the  complaint 
of  these  Jews :  nor  does  he  on  this  occasion  expressly  affirm  it,  but 
refers  them  to  the  testimony  of  his  works,  without  specifying  the  precise 
import  of  that  attestation.  In  the  progress  of  his  discourse,  however, 
he  advances  nearer  to  an  open  declaration  of  his  Messiahship  than  on 
any  former  occasion,  affirming  his  Father  and  himself  to  be  one,  in 
consequence  of  which  the  people  attempt  to  stone  him,  as  guilty  of 
blasphemy  in  making  himself  the  Son  of  God.  As  his  time  M^as  not 
yet  come,  he  still  maintains  a  degree  of  his  wonted  caution,  and  vindi- 
cates his  assumption  of  that  honour,  upon  principles  far  inferior  to  what 
he  might  justly  have  urged.  Yet  such  was  the  effijct  of  this  discourse, 
that,  in  order  to  screen  himself  from  the  fury  of  his  enemies,  he  found 
it  necessary  immediately  to  retire  beyond  Jordan.  In  an  advanced 
stage  of  his  ministry,  we  find  him  inquiring  of  his  disciples  the  pre- 
vailing opinions  entertained  respecting  himself;  on  which  they  reply, 
"  Some  say  thou  art  Johi  the  Baptist,  others  Elias,  others  Jeremiah,  or 

•  John  X.  24,  25. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  29? 

one  of  the  prophets."  Tliat  he  was  the  Messiali,  was  not,  it  is  evident, 
the  opinion  generally  entertained  at  that  time  by  sucii  as  were  mos 
favourably  disposed  towards  his  character  and  pretensions,  wiiich  it 
could  not  fail  to  have  been,  had  this  title  been  publicly  proclaimed  :  but 
th'is  was  so  iar  from  his  intention,  that  when  Peter,  in  the  name  of  the 
rest  of  the  apostles,  uttered  that  glorious  confession,  "  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,"  our  Lord  immediately  enjnin^ 
secrecy.  What  he  enjoined  his  disciples  not  to  publish,  he  certainly 
did  not  publish  himself,  nor  for  the  same  reason  suffer  it  to  be  indis- 
criminately proclaimed  by  his  forerunner.  But  if  we  suppose  John  to 
baptize  in  his  name,  we  must  suppose  what  is  equivalent  to  an  explicit 
declaration  of  his  being  the  Messiah  ;  for  since  he  on  all  occasions  pre- 
dicted the  speedy  appearance  of  that  great  personage,  the  people  could 
not  fail  to  identify  with  him  the  individual  whose  name  was  thus  ern- 
ployed,  and  all  the  precautions  maintained  by  our  Saviour  would  have 
been  utterly  defeated.  For  what  possible  purpose  could  he  forbid  his 
disciples  to  publish  what  John  is  supposed  to  have  promulgated  as  often 
as  he  administered  the  baptismal  rite  1  and  how  shall  we  account  on 
this  hypothesis  for  the  diversity  of  opinion  which  prevailed  respecting 
his  character,  among  those  who  were  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  (Hvine 
mission  of  that  great  prophet?  From  these  considerations,  in  addition 
to  the  total  silence  of  Scripture,  the  jucHcious  reader,  I  presume,  will 
conclude  without  hesitation  that  John  did  7iot  -baptize  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  which  is  an  essential  ingredient  in  Christian  baptism ;  and 
though  it  is  administered,  in  fact,  in  the  name  of  each  person  of  the 
blessed  Godhead,  not  in  that  of  the  Son  only,_  this,  instead  of  im- 
pairing, strengthens  the  argument,  by  enlarging  still  further  the  dif- 
ference between  the  two  ordinances  in  question  ;  for  none  will  contend 
that  John  immersed  his  disciples  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  'I'rinity. 

4.  The  baptism  instituted  by  our  Lord  is  in  Scripture  distinguished 
from  that  of  the  forerunner  by  the  superior  effects  with  which  it  was 
accompanied;  so  that,  instead  of  being  confounded  they  are  contrasted 
in  the  sacred  historians.  "I  indeed,"  said  John,  "baptize  yoy  with 
water  unto  repentance,  but  there  cometh  one  after  me  who  is  mightier 
than  I :  he  shall  baptize  you  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  fire."  The 
rite  administered  by  John  was  a  mere  immersion  in  water,  unaccom- 
panied with  that  effusion  of  the  Spirit,  that  redundant  supply  of  super- 
natural gifts  and  graces  which  distinguished  the  subjects  of  the  Clu-istian 
institute.  On  the  passage  just  quoted,  St.  Chrysostom  has  the  following 
comment : — "  Having  agitated  tlieir  minds  with  the  fear  of  futiu-e  judg- 
ment, and  the  expectation  of  punishment,  and  the  mention  of  ilie  axe, 
and  the  rejection  of  their  ancestors,  and  the  substitution  of  a  new  race, 
together  with  the  double  menace  of  excision  and  burning,  and  by  all 
these  means  softened  their  obd-iracy,  and  disposed  them  to  a  desire  of 
deliverance  from  these  evils,  he  then  introduces  the  mention  of  Christ, 
not  in  a  simple  manner,  but  with  much  elevation  ;  in  exhibiting  his  own 
disparity,  lest  he  should  appear  to  be  using  the  language  of  compliment, 
he  commences  by  stating  a  comparison  between  the  benefit  bestowed  by 
each.     For  he  did  not  immediately  say,  1  am  not  worthy  to  unloose  the 


298  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

latchet  of  his  slioos  ;  but  having  first  stated  the  insignificance  of  his  own 
baptism,  ami  shown  that  it  had  no  eflect  beyond  bringing  tliem  to  repent- 
ance (for  he  did  not  style  it  the  water  of  remission,  but  of  repentance), 
he  proceeds  to  the  baptism  ordained  by  Christ,  which  was  replete  with 
an  inijf'ablc  gift-'"*  This  eminent  father,  we  perceive,  insists  on  tiie 
prodigious  inferiority  of  the  ceremony  performed  by  John  to  the  Chris- 
tian sacrament,  from  its  being  merely  a  symbol  of  repentance,  widiout 
comprehending  the  remission  of  sins,t  or  the  donation  of  the  Spirit. 
The  evangelists  Mark  and  Luke,  it  is  true,  afTirm  that  John  preached 
the  baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins,  whence  we  are 
entitled  to  infer  that  the  rite  which  he  administered,  when  accompanied 
with  suitable  dispositions,  was  important  in  the  order  of  preparation, 
not  tliat  it  was  accompanied  with  the  immediate  or  actual  collation  of 
that  benefit. 

Such  as  repented  at  his  call  stood  fair  candidates  for  the  blessings 
of  the  approaching  dispensation,  among  which  an  assurance  of  pardon 
the  adoption  of  children,  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  held  the  most  con- 
spicuous place  ;  blessings  of  which  it  was  the  office  of  John  to  excite 
the  expectation,  but  of  Christ  to  bestow.  The  effusion  of  the  Spirit, 
indeed,  in  the  multifarious  forms  of  his  miraculous  and  sanctifying 
operation,  may  be  considered  as  equivalent  to  them  all ;  and  this,  we 
are  distinctly  told,  was  not  given  (save  in  a  very  scanty  manner)  during 
our  Lord's  abode  upon  earth,  because  he  was  not  yet  glorified.  Reserved 
to  adorn  the  triumph  of  the  ascended  Saviour,  the  apostles  were  com- 
manded to  wait  at  Jerusalem  until  it  was  bestowed,  which  was  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  when  "  a  sound  from  heaven  as  of  a  mighty  wind 
filled  the  place  where  they  were  assembled,  and  cloven  tongues  of  fire 
sat  upon  each  of  them,  and  they  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  This 
was  the  first  example  of  that  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  author  of 
which,  John  asserts  the  immense  superiority  of  the  Messiah,  not  to 
himself  only,  but  to  all  preceding  prophets.  In  the  subsequent  history, 
we  perceive  that  this  gift  was,  on  all  ordinary  occasions,  conferred  in 
connexion  with  baptism.  \n  this  connexion  it  is  exhibited  by  St. 
Peter,  in  his  address  on  the  day  of  Pentecost :  "  Repent  and  be  bap- 
tized, every  one  of  you,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission 
of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Thus  it  was  also  in  the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus.  Agreeable  to  our 
Lord's  prediction  of  the  signs  wdiich  should  accompany  them  that 
believe,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  a  greater  or  less  measure  of  these 
supernatural  endowments  regularly  accompanied  the  imposition  of  the 
hands  of  the  apostles  on  primitive  converts,  immediately  subsequent  to 
their  baptism ;  which  affords  an  easy  solution  to  the  surprise  Paul 
appears  to  have  felt  in  finding  certain  disciples  at  Ephesus,  who,  though 
they  had  been  baptized,  were  yet  unacquainted  with  these  communica- 
tions. "  Into  what  then,"  he  asks,  "  were  ye  baptized  ?"  and  upon  being 
mformed  "  Into  John's  baptism,"  the  difficulty  vanished. 

Since  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  copious  effusion  o\ 

*  Homily  xi.  on  Matthew, 
t  Mark  i.  4.    Luke  iii.  3. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  299 

spiritual  influences,  in-  which  primitive  Christians  were,  so  to  speak, 
immersed,  was  appointed  to  follow  the  sacramental  use  of  water,  under 
the  Ciiristian  economy,  while  the  same  corporeal  action  pertbrmed  by 
John  was  a  naked  ceremony,  not  accompanied  by  any  such  effecls,  this 
difference  between  them  is  sufficient  to  account  for  their  being  conlrasted 
in  Scripture,  and  ought  ever  to  have  prevented  their  being  confounded 
as  one  and  the  same  institute. 

5.  The  case  of  the  disciples  at  Ephesus,  to  which  we  have  just 
adverted,  affords  a  demonstrative  proof  of  the  position  for  which  we  are 
contending ;  for  if  John's  baptism  was  the  same  with  our  Lord's,  upon 
what  principles  could  St.  Paul  proceed  in  administering  the  latter  to 
such  as  had  already  received  the  former?  As  I  am  aware  that  some 
have  attempted  to  deny  so  plain  a  fact,  I  shall  beg  leave  to  quote  the 
whole  passage,  which,  I  am  persuaded,  will  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind 
of  an  impartial  reader  : — "  It  came  to  pass  while  Apollos  was  at  Corinth, 
Paul  passing  thiough  the  upper  coasts  came  to  Ephesus:  and  finding 
certain  disciples,  said  unto  them.  Have  ye  received  the  Holy  Ghost 
since  ye  believed  ?  but  they  replied.  We  have  not  even  heard  that  there 
is  an  Holy  Ghost.  He  said  unto  them.  Into  what  then  were  ye  baptized  ? 
they  said.  Into  John's  baptism.  Paul  replied,  John  indeed  baptized 
with  the  baptism  of  repentance,  saying  unto  the  people,  that  they  should 
believe  on  him  who  was  to  come,  that  is,  on  Jesus  Christ.  And  when 
they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  :  and 
when  Paul  had  laid  his  hands  upon  them,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon 
them,  and  they  spake  with  tongues  and  prophesied."  I  am  conscious 
that  there  are  not  wanting  some  who  contend  that  tJie  fifth  verse*  is  to 
be  interpreted  as  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  affirming  that  at  the  command 
of  John,  the  people  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jeslis.  But  not  to 
repeat  what  has  already  been  advanced  to  show  that  this  is  contrary  to 
fact,  (for  who,  I  might  ask,  were  the  people  who  at  his  instigation  were 
baptized  in  that  name,  or  what  traces  are  in  the  evangelical  history  of 
such  a  practice,  during  the  period  of  his  ministry?)  not  to  insist  further 
on  this,  it  is  obvious  that  this  interpretation  of  the  passage  contradicts 
itself:  for  if  John  told  the  people  that  they  were  to  believe  on  him  who 
was  to  come,  this  was  equivalent  to  declaring  that  he  had  not  yet 
manifested  himself;  while  the  baptizing  in  his  name  as  an  existing 
individual  would  have  been  to  affirm  the  contrary.  Besides,  we  must 
remark,  that  the  persons  on  whom  Paul  is  asserted  to  have  laid  his 
hands  were  unquestionably  the  identical  persons  who  are  affirmed  in 
the  preceding  verse  to  have  been  baptized;  for  theie  is  no  other  ante- 
cedent, so  that  if  the  meaning  of  the  passage  be  what  some  contend  for, 
the  sacred  historian  must  be  supposed  to  assert  that  he  laid  his  hands, 
not  on  the  twelve  disciples  at  Ephesus,  but  on  John's  converts  in  gene- 
ral, that  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  them,  and  that  they  spake  with 
tonsjuos  and  prophesied  ;  which  is  ineffably  absurd. 

Either  this  must  be  supposed,  or  the  words,  which  in  their  original 
structure  are  most  closely  combined,  must  be  conceived  to  consist  of 

*  "  When  they  heard  this,  Ihey  were  baplized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." — Acts  xix    5 


800  TERMS  01b    COMMUNION. 

two  parts,  the  first  relating  to  John's  converts  ni  gcnoni],  the  secon^  to 
the  twelve  liiseiples  at  Ephesus  ;  and  the  relative  pronoun,  expressive 
of  the  latter  description  of  persons,  instead  of  being  conjoined  to  the 
preceding  clause,  must  be  i-eferred  to  an  antecedent,  removed  at  the 
distance  of  three  verses.  In  the  whole  compass  of  theological  con- 
troversy, it  would  be  difficult  to  assign  a  stronger  instance  of  the  force 
of  prejudice  in  obscuring  a  plain  matter  of  fact ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  con- 
jecture what  could  be  the  temptation  to  do  such  violence  to  tlie  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  and  to  every  principle  of  sober  criticism,  unless  it 
were  the  horror  which  certain  divines  had  conceived  against  every  thing 
which  bore  tlic  shadow  of  countenancing  Aniiljaptistical  error.  The 
ancient  con^.mentators  appear  to  have  felt  no  such  apprehensions,  but  to 
have  followed,  without  scruple,  tlie  natural  import  of  the  passage.* 

6.  Independently  of  this  decisive  fact,  whoever  considers  the  ex- 
treme popularity  of  John,  and  the  multitude  of  all  descriptions  who 
flocked  to  his  baptism,  will  (ind  it  difficult  to  believe  thai  there  were 
not  many  in  the  same  situation  with  these  twelve  disciples.  The  an- 
nunciation of  the  speedy  appearance  of  their  Messiah  Vv^as  tlie  most 
welcome  of  all  intelligence  to  the  Jewish  people,  and  did  not  fail  for  a 
time  to  produce  prodigious  effects. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  notice  the  terms  employed  to  describe 
the  effects  of  John's  ministry,  and  compare  them  with  the  language  of 
the  historian,  in  depicting  the  most  prosperous  state  of  the  church. 
"  Then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem,  and  all  Judea,  and  all  the  coast 
round  about  Jordan,  and  were  baptized  in  Jordan,  confessing  their 
sins."  Where  is  such  language  employed  to  represent  the  success  of 
the  apostles  ?  Their  converts  are  numerically  stated,  and  at  some  dis- 
tance from  our  Lord's  ascension  appear  to  have  amounted  to  about  five 
thousand,  whde  a  great  majorit}'  of  the  nation  continued  impenitent  and 
incredulous.     We  read  of  no  party  formed  against  the  son  of  Zecha- 

*  Tti3  intelligent  reader  will  not  be  displeased  to  see  the  opinion  of  St.  Austin  on  this  point.  Tt  is 
almost  urineces.sary  to  say  that  it  is  decisively  in  our  favour;  nor  does  it  appear  ilial  any  of  the 
fathers  entertained  a  doubt  on  the  subject.  In  consulliiiL'  the  opuiion  of  those  who  contended  that 
such  as  were  reclaimed  from  heresy  ought  to  be  rebaptized,  he  represents  them  as  arguing,  that  if 
the  converts  of  John  required  to  be  rebaptized,  much  more  those  who  were  converted  from  heresy 
Since  thsy  who  hid  the  baptism  of  John  were  commanded  by  Paul  to  be  baptized,  not  having  the 
baptism  of  Christ,  why  do  you  extol  the  merit  of  ,Iohn,  and  reprob.ate  the  fmsery  of  heretics?  "  I 
concede  to  you,"  says  St.  Austin,  "  the  misery  of  heretics :  but  heretics  give  tne  baptism  of  Christ, 
which  John  did  not  give." 

The  comment  of  Chrysostom  on  the  passage  under  consideration,  is  equally  decisive.  "  lie  (Paul) 
did  not  say  to  them  that  the  baptism  of  John  was  nothing,  but  that  it  was  incompleie  ;  nor  does  he 
say  this  simply,  or  without  having  a  further  purpose  in  view,  but  that  he  might  teach  and  persuade 
them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  wliich  they  vvere,  and  received  the  Holy  Ghosi  oy  the 
laying  on  of  Paul's  hands."'  In  the  course  of  his  e.\po.silion,  he  solves  the  difficulty  attending  the 
supposition  of  disciples  at  Ephesus,  a  place  so  remote  from  Judea,  having  received  baptism  from 
John.  '•  Perhaps,"  says  he,  "  they  were  then  on  a  journey,  and  went  out,  and  were  baptized."  But 
even  when  thev  were  bapiized,  they  knew  not  Jesus.  Nor  does  he  ask  them.  Do  ye  believe  on 
Jesus?  but  "Have  ye  received  the  Holy  Ghost?"  He  knew  ihai  they  had  not  received  it,  but  is 
desirous  of  speaking  to  them,  that  on  learning  that  they  were  destitute  of.  they  might  be  induced  to 
seek  it.  A  little  afterward  ho  adds,  '•  Well  did  he  (Paul)  denominal'!  the  baptism  of  John  the  bap- 
tism of  repentance,  and  not  of  remission;  instructing  and  persuiding  them  that  it  was  destitute  of 
that  advantage:  but  the  effect  of  that  which  was  given  afierward  was  rem\ss\on:'—HmniUj  in  loro, 
vol.  iv.  EtoncE.  I  am  aware  that  very  learned  men  have  doubled  the  authenticity  of  Chrysostom's 
commentary  on  the  Acts,  on  account  of  tl|e  supposed  inferiority  of  it  to  his  other  e.vpository  works. 
But  without  having  recourse  to  so  violent  a  supposition,  its  inferiority,  should  it  be  admitted,  maybe 
easily  accounted  <br  by  the  negligence,  ignorance,  or  inattention  of  his  amanuensis;  supposing 
(which  is  not  improbable)  that  his  discourses  wereXakeii  from  his  lips.  From  the  lime  he  was  sixty 
years  of  age,  he  permitted  his  discourses  to  be  taken  down  in  shorthand,  just  as  'le  delivered  then) 
-Euseb.  lib.  vi.  c.  26. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  301 

nah,  no  persecution  raised  against  his  followers  ;  and  such  was  the 
reverence  in  which  he  coiiiiiiued  to  be  held  after  his  death,  that  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  those  determined  enemies  to  the  gospel,  dared 
not  avow  their  disbelief  of  his  mission,  because  all  the  people  consid- 
ered him  as  a  prophet.  The  historian  Josephus,  who  is  generally 
supposed  by  the  learned  to  have  made  no  mention  of  our  Saviour,  bears 
decisive  testimony  to  John's  merits,  and  imputes  the  misfortunes  of 
Herod  to  the  guilt  he  contracted  by  putting  him  to  death.* 

From  these  considerations  I  infer,  that  if  we  suppose  the  converts 
made  by  the  apostles  to  have  been  universally  baptized  on  their  admis- 
sion into  the  church  (a  fact  not  doubted  by  our  opponents),  multitudes 
of  them  must  have  been  in  the  same  situation  with  the  disciples  at 
Ephesus.  How  is  it  possible  it  should  have  been  otherwise  ?  When 
the  number  of  his  converts  was  so  prodigious,  when  the  submission 
to  his  institute  appears  to  have  been  almost  national,  when  of  so  small 
a  number  as  twelve,  two  at  least  of  the  apostles  were  of  his  disciples, 
who  can  doubt,  for  a  moment,  that  some  at  least  of  the  multitudes  who 
were  converted  on  or  after  the  day  of  Pentecost  consisted  of  such  as 
had  previously  submitted  to  the  baptism  of  John?  Is  it  possible  that 
the  ministry  of  the  forerunner  and  of  the  apostles  of  our  Lord  should 
both  liave  been  productive  of  such  great  effects  among  the  same  people 
at  the  distance  of  a  few  years,  without  operating  in  a  single  instance  in 
the  same  direction,  and  upon  the  same  persons?  Among  the  converts 
at  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  at  subsequent  periods,  there  must  have 
been  no  inconsiderable  number  who  had  for  a  time  been  sufliciently 
awakened  by  the  ministry  of  John  to  comply  with  this  ordinance  ;  yet 
it  is  evident  from  the  narrative  in  the  Acts,  as  well  as  admitted  by  our 
opponents,  that  Peter  enjoined  on  them  all,  without  exception,  tlie  duty 
of  being  immersed  in  the  name  of  Christ.  That  such  a  description  of 
persons  should  need  to  be  converted  by  the  apostles  will  easily  be  con- 
ceived, if  we  allow  ourselves  to  reflect  on  the  circumstances  of  the 
times.  *"He  was  a  burning  and  a  shining  light,"  said  our  Lord,  speak- 
ing of  his  forerunner,  "  and  ye  were  willing  for  a  time  to  rejoice  in  his 
light."  This  implies  that  their  attachment  was  transient,  their  repent- 
ance superficial,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  such  as  appeared  I'or  a 
while  most  determined  to  press  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  afterward 
sunk  into  a  state  of  apathy.  The  singular  spectacle  of  a  prophet 
arising,  after  a  long  cessation  of  prophetical  gifts,  his  severe  sanctity, 
his  bold  and  alarming  address,  coinciding  Vv^ith  the  general  expectation 
of  the  Messiah,  made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  spirits  of  men,  and 
disposed  them  to  pay  a  profound  attention  to  his  ministry  ;  and  from 
their  attachment  to  every  thing  ritual  and  ceremonial,  they  would  feel 
no  hesitation  in  submitting  to  the  ceremony  enjoined.  But  wlu  n  the 
kingdom  which  they  eagerly  anticipated  appeared  to  be  altogether  of 
a  spiritual  nature,  divested  of  secular  pomp  and  grandeur;  when  the 
sublimcr  mysteries  of  the  gospel  began  to  be  unfolded,  and  the  neces- 
sity inculcated  of  eating  the  flesh  and  drinking  the  blood  of  the  Sou  of 

•  Antiq.  Jud.  lib.  viii.     Colon.  lO'Jl. 


302  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

man,  the  people  were  offended ;  and  even  of  the  professed  disciples 
of  our  l^ord,  many  walked  no  more  with  him.  A  general  declension 
succcoded,  so  that,  of  the  muUiludcs  who  once  appeared  to  be  much 
moved  by  ins  ministry  and  that  of  his  forerunner,  the  number  which 
persevered  was  so  inconsiderable  that  all  that  could  be  mustered  to 
witness  his  resurrection  amounted  to  little  more  than  five  hundred,* — a 
number  whicli  maybe  considered  as  constituting  the  whole  body  of  the 
church  till  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

Ttie  parable  of  the  house  forsaken  for  a  time  by  an  evd  spirit,  swept 
and  garnished,  to  which  he  returned  with  seven  more  wicked  than  him- 
self, it  is  generally  admitted,  was  designed  to  represent  this  temporary 
reformation  of  the  Jewish  nation,  together  with  its  subsequent  apostacy. 
The  day  of  Pentecost  changed  the  scene,  the  power  of  the  ascended 
Saviour  began  to  be  developed  ;  and  three  thousand  were  converted  at 
one  time.  Nor  did  it  cease  here ;  foi  soon  after  we  are  informed  of  a 
great  multitude  of  priests  who  became  obedient  to  the  faith ;  and  at  a 
subsequent  period  St.  James  reminds  the  apostle  of  the  gentiles  of 
many  myriads  of  converted  Jews,  all  zealous  for  the  law. 

Let  me  ask,  again,  is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  none  of  these  my- 
riads consisted  of  such  as  had  been  baptized  by  John  ?  Were  they  all, 
without  exception,  of  that  impious  class  which  uniformly  held  his 
mission  in  contempt?  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  it;  it  is  contradicted 
by  the  express  testimony  of  Scripture,  which  affirms  two  of  the  apostles 
to  have  been  his  disciples  and  companions.!  But  if  such  as  professed 
their  faith  in  Christ,  under  the  ministry  of  the  apostles,  were  baptized 
on  that  profession,  without  any  consideration  of  their  having  been  pre- 
viously immersed  by  John,  or  not,  what  stronger  proof  cau  be  desired 
that  the  institutes  in  question  Avere  totally  distinct  1  AVere  we  satisfied 
with  an  argumentum  ad  hominem,  with  the  sort  of  proof  suflicient  to 
silence  our  opponents,  here  the  matter  might  safely  rest.  But  inde- 
pendent of  their  concession,  I  must  add  that  it  is  manifest  from  the 
whole  tenor  of  the  Acts  that  the  baptismal  rite  was  universally  admin- 
istered to  the  converts  to  Christianity  subsequent  to  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost. "  Peter  said  unto  them.  Repent  and  be  baptized,  every  one  of 
you  :"  it  is  added,  almost  immediately,  "  Then  they  that  gladly  received 
his  word  were  baptized." 

It  will  possibly  be  asked,  if  the  rite  which  the  forerunner  of  our  Lord 
administered  is  not  to  be  considered  as  a  Christian  institute,  to  what 
dispensation  are  we  to  assign  it,  since  it  is  manifestly  no  part  of  the 
economy  of  jMoses  ?  We  reply,  that  it  was  the  symbol  of  a  peculiar 
dispensation,  Avhich  was  neither  entirely  legal  nor  evangelical,  but 
occupied  an  interm^iate  station,  possessing  something  of  the  char- 
acter and  attributes  of  both  ;  a  kind  of  twilight,  equally  removed  from 
the  obscurity  of  the  first  and  the  splendour  of  the  last  and  perfect 
economy  of  religion.  The  law  and  the  prophets  ic^ere  till  John  ;  his 
mission  constituted  a  distinct  era,  and  placed  the  nation  to  which  he 
was  sent  in  circumstances   materially  different  from  its  preceding  or 

*  1  Cor.  XV  6  t  John  i.  ?5-37 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  303 

subseq\ient  state.  Itjvvas  the  era  of  preparation  ;  it  was  a  voice  which, 
breaking  through  a  long  silence,  announced  the  immediate  approach  of 
the  desire  of  all  nations,  the  messenger  of  the  covenant,  in  whom  they 
delighted.  In  announcing  this  event  as  at  hand,  and  establishing  a  rite 
unknown  to  the  law,  expressive  of  that  purity  of  hean  and  reformation 
of  life  which  were  the  only  suitable  preparations  for  his  reception,  he 
stood  alone,  equally  severed  from  the  choir  of  the  prophets,  and  the 
company  of  the  apostles  :  and  the  light  which  he  emitted,  though  it 
greatly  surpassed  every  preceding  illumination,  was  of  short  duration, 
being  soon  eclipsed  and  extinguished  by  that  ineffable  eflulgence  before 
which  nothing  can  retain  its  splendour. 

The  wisdom  of  God  in  the  arrangement  of  successive  dispensations 
seems  averse  to  sudden  and  violent  innovations,  rarely  introducing  new 
rites  without  incorporating  something  of  the  old.  As  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Mosaic,  the  simple  ritual  of  the  patriarchal  dispensation 
was  not  so  properly  abolished,  as  amplified  and  extended  into  a  regular 
system  of  prefigurations  oi' good  things  to  come,  in  which  the  worship 
by  sacrifices,  and  the  distinction  of  animals  into  clean  and  unclean,  re- 
appeared under  a  new  form  ;  so  the  era  of  immediate  preparation  was 
distinguished  by  a  ceremony  not  entirely  new,  but  derived  from  the  puri- 
fications of  the  law,  applied  to  a  special  purpose.*  Our  Lord  incor- 
porated the  same  rite  into  his  religion,  newly  modified,  and  adapted  to 
the  peculiar  views  and  objects  of  the  Christian  economy,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  another  positive  institution,  the  rudiments  of  which  are  per- 
ceptible in  the  passovei*.  It  seemed  suitable  to  his  wisdom,  by  such 
gentle  gradations,  to  conduct  his  church  from  an  infantine  state  to  a 
state  of  maturity  and  perfection. 

Before  I  dismiss  this  part  of  the  subject,  which  has  perhaps  already 
detained  the  reader  too  long,  I  must  beg  leave  to  hazard  one  conjecture. 
Since  it  is  manifest  that  the  baptism  of  John  did  not  supersede  the 
Christian  ordinance,  they  being  perfectly  distinct,  it  is  natural  to  inquire 
who  baptized  the  apostles,  and  the  hundred  and  twenty  disciples  assem- 
bled with  them  at  the  day  of  Pentecost.  My  deliberate  opinion  is,  that, 
in  the  Christian  sense  of  the  term,  they  were  not  baptized  at  all.  From 
the  total  silence  of  Scripture,  and  from  other  circumstances  which  might 
be  adduced,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  they  submitted  to  that  rite  after 
our  Saviour's  resurrection  ;  and  previous  to  it,  it  has  been  sufficiently 
proved  that  it  was  not  in  force.  It  is  almost  certain  that  some,  probably 
most  of  them,  had  been  baptized  by  John,  but  for  reasons  which  have 
been  already  amply  assigned,  this  will  not  account  for  their  not  submit- 
ting to  the  Christian  ordinance.  The  true  account  seems  to,  be,  that 
the  precept  of  baptism  had  no  retrospective  bearing  ;  and  that,  conse- 
quently, its  obligation  extended  only  to  such  as  were  converted  to 
Christianity  subsequently  to  the  time  of  its  promulgation.  Such  as 
had  professed  their  faith  in  Christ  from  the  period  of  his  first  manifes- 
tation could  not,  without  palpable  incongruity,  recommence  that  profes- 
sion, which  would  have  been  to  cancel  and  annul  their  former  religious 

*  The  principal  part  of  these  consisted  in  bathing  the  body  in  water. 


304  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

pretensions.  With  wliat  propriety  could  the  apostles  of  the  Lord,  icho 
had  cuntiniird  wit/t  him  in  his  temptatioiis^  place  themselves  on  a  level 
witii  that  iiiullitude  which,  however  penitent  at  present,  had  recently 
demanded  Ids  blood  wilh  clamorous  importunity  ?  not  to  insist  that  tliey 
had  already  received  the  baptism  of"  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  which  the 
sacramental  use  of  water  was  l)ut  a  figure.  They  were  not  converted 
to  the  Christian  religion  subsequently  to  their  Lord's  resurrection,  nor 
did  the  avowal  of  their  attachment  to  the  Messiah  commence  from  that 
period;  and  therefore  they  were  not  comprehended  under  the  baptismal 
law,  which  was  propounded  for  the  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  persons 
in  essentially  different  circumstances.  AVhen  St.  Paul  says,  '■'■As  many 
of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Christ  have  put  on  Christ,"  his  language 
seems  to  intimate  that  there  were  a  class  of  Christians  to  whom  this 
argument  did  not  apply.* 

Having  proved,  I  trust,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  candid  reader,  that 
baptism,  considered  as  a  Christian  institution,  had  no  existence  during 
the  personal  ministry  of  our  Saviour,  the  plea  of  our  opponents,  founded 
on  the  supposejJ/);7on7y  of  that  ordinance  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  com- 
pletely overruled  ;  whatever  weight  it  might  possess,  supposing  it  were 
valid,  must  be  wholly  transferred  to  the  opposite  side,  and  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  either  that  they  have  reasoned  inconclusively,  or  have 
produced  a  demonstration  in  our  favour.  It  now  appears  that  the 
original  communicants  at  the  Lord's  table,  at  the  time  they  partook  of 
it,  were,  with  respect  to  the  Christian  baptism,  precisely  in  the  same 
situation  wilh  the  persons  they  exclude. 


SECTION   II. 

The  Argument  for  strict  Communion^  from  the  Order  of  Words  in  the 
Apostolic  Commission,  considered. 

The  commission  which  the  apostles  received  after  our  Lord's  resur- 
rection was  in  the  following  words : — "All  power  is  given  to  me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
teaching  them  to  observe  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you."  From 
baptism  being  mentioned  first  after  teaching,  it  is  urged  that  it  ought 
invariably  to  be  administered  immediately  after  effectual  instruction  is 
imparted,  and  consequently  before  an  approach  to  the  Lord's  table. 
Whence  it  is  concluded,  that  to  communicate  with  such  as  are  unbaptized 
is  a  violation  of  Divine  order.f 

It  may  assist  the  reader  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  force  of  the 

*  Rom.  vi.  3. 

t  "Teach,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "is  the  high  coramission,  and  suoh  thee.xpress  command  of  him  who- 
is  Jjnrd  nf  nil,  when  addressing  those  who  are  railed  lo  pieaeh  his  word,  and  admmisicr  his  institu- 
tions. Hence  it  is  manifest  the  commission  and  command  are  first  of  all  to  teach  :  what  then  ? — to 
bapii/.e,  or  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  ?  I  leave  common  sense  to  judge ;  and  being  persua  led 
that  she  will  give  her  verdict  in  my  favour,  I  will  veniure  to  add,  a  limited  commission  implies  a 
prohibition  of  such  tinngs  as  are  not  coniained  in  it ;  and  positive  laws  imply  their  rie^ntive. 

"  For  instance,  when  God  commanded  Abraham  to  circumcise  aii  his  males,  he  readily  concluded 
that  ne.tlier  circumcision,  nor  any  rite  of  a  similar  nature,  was  to  be  adnunistereii  to  his  females. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  ,  305 

argument  adduced  on  this  occasion,  if  we  reduce  it  to  the  following 
syllogism : 

Tiie  persons  who  are  to   be  taught  to  observe  all  things  given  in 
charge  to  the  apostle,  are  the  baptized  alone. 

But  the  Lord's  Supper  is  one  of  these  things. 

Therefore  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ought  to  be  enjoined  on 
the  baptized  alone. 

Here  it  is  obvious  that  the  conclusion  rests  entirely  upon  this  prin- 
ciple, that  nothing  which  the  apostles  were  commissioned  to  enjoin  on 
believers  is  to  be  recommended  to  the  attention  of  persons  not  baptized ; 
since,  as  far  as  this  argument  is  concerned,  the  observation  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  supposed  not  to  belong  to  them,  merely  because  it 
forms  a  part  of  those  precepts.  It  is  obvious,  if  the  reasoning  of  our 
opponents  be  valid,  it  militates  irresistibly  against  the  inculcation  of 
every  branch  of  Christian  duty,  on  persons  who  in  their  judgment 
have  not  partaken  of  the  baptismal  sacrament :  it  excludes  them,  not 
merely  from  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  from  every  species  of  instruction 
appropriate  to  Christians  ;  nor  can  they  exhort  Pedobaptists  to  walk 
worthy  of  their  high  calling,  to  adorn  their  Christian  profession,  to 
cultivate  brotherly  love,  or  to  the  performance  of  any  duty  resulting 
from  their  actual  relation  to  Christ,  without  a  palpable  violation  of  their 
own  principles.  In  all  such  instances  they  would  be  teaching  them  lo 
observe  injunctions  which  Christ  gave  in  charge  to  the  apostles  for  the 
regulation  of  Christian  conduct,  while  they  deem  it  necessary  to  repel 
them  from  the  sacrament,  merely  on  account  of  its  forming  a  part  of 
those  injunctions.  Nor  can  they  avoid  the  force  of  this  reasoning,  by 
objecting,  that  though  it  may  be  their  duty  to  enjoin  on  imbaptized  be- 
lievers some  parts  of  the  mind  of  Christ  respecting  the  conduct  of  his 
mystical  members,  it  will  not  follow  that  they  are  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Lord's  table ;  and  that  their  meaning  is,  that  it  is  only  subsequently  to 
baptism, that  all  things  ought  to  be  enforced  on  the  consciences  of 
Christians.  For  if  it  be  once  admitted.that  the  clause  on  which  so 
much  stress  is  laid  is  not  to  be  interpreted  so  as  absolutely  to  exclude 
unbaptized  Christians  from  the  ivholc  of  its  import,  to  what  purpose  is  it 
alleged  against  their  admission  to  the  Eucharist  ?  or  how  does  it  appear 
that  this  may  not  be  one  of  the  parts  in  which  they  are  compre- 
hended ? 

When  the  advocates  for  strict  communion  remind  us  of  the  order  in 
which  the  two  positive  institutions  of  Christianity  are  enjoined,  they 
appear  to  assume  it  for  granted  that  we  are  desirous  of  inverting  that 
order,  and  that  we  are  contending  for  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist 
previous  to  baptism,  in  the  case  of  a  clear  comprehension  of  the  nature 
and  obHgation  of  each.  We  plead  for  nothing  of  the  kind.  Sup- 
posing a  convert  to  Christianity  convinced  of  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 

And  as  our  brctUren  themselves  maintain,  when  Christ  commanded  bclievcrx  shonld  be  baptiTOil,  with- 
out mentioning  any  others,  he  tacitly  prohibited  that  ordinance  from  being  administered  to  infiints  ; 
so,  by  parity  of  reason,  if  the  same  sovereign  Lord  commanded  that  believers  should  be  baptized — 
baptized  immediately  after  tliey  made  a  profession  of  faitli,  then  he  must  intend  that  the  administra- 
tion of  baptism  should  be  prior  to  a  reception  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  consequently,  tacitly  pro- 
hibits every  unbaptized  person  having  connnunion  at  his  table." — Booth's  Apology,  p.  34 

Vol.  L— U 


306  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

in  the  liiilit  in  which  we  contemplate  it,  we  should  urge  his  obligation 
to  comply  witli  if,  previous  to  his  reception  of  the  sacrament,  with  as 
little  hesitation  as  the  most  rigid  of  our  opponents ;  nor  should  we  be 
more  disposed  than  themselves  to  countenance  a  neglect  of  known  duty, 
or  a  waiuon  inversion  of  the  order  of  Christian  appointments.  Wiiether 
in  such  circumstances  the  attention  of  a  candidate  for  Christian  com- 
munion should  first  be  directed  to  baptism,  is  not  the  question  at  issue ; 
but  what  conduct  ought  to  be  maintained  towards  sincere  Christians, 
who,  after  serious  examination,  profess  their  conviction  of  being  bap- 
tized already,  or  who,  in  any  manner  whatever,  are  withheld  by  motives 
purely  conscientious  from  complying  with  w'hat  we  conceive  to  be  a 
Christian  ordinance.  To  justify  the  exclusion  of  such  from  the  Lord's 
table,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  allege  the  prescribed  order  of  the  institu- 
tions ;  it  is  necessary  also  to  evince  such  a  dependence  of  one  upon  the 
other,  that  a  neglect  of  the  first  from  involuntary  mistake  annuls  the 
obligation  of  the  second.  Let  this  dependence  be  once  clearly  pointed 
out,  and  we  give  up  the  cause.  It  has  been  asserted,  indeed,  with  much 
confidence,  that  we  have  the  same  authority  for  confining  our  com- 
munion to  baptized  persons,  as  the  ancient  Jews  for  admitting  none  but 
such  as  had  been  circumcised  to  the  passover :  a  simple  recital,  how- 
ever, of  the  words  of  the  law,  with  respect  to  that  ancient  rite,  will  be 
sufficient  to  demonstrate  the  contrary  :  "  When  a  stranger  shall  sojourn 
with  thee,  and  will  keep  his  passover  to  the  Lord,  let  all  his  males  be 
circumcised,  and  then  let  him  come  and  keep  it,  and  he  shall  be  as  one 
that  is  born  in  the  land;  for  no  uncircumcised  person  shall  eat  thereof." 
But  where,  let  me  ask,  is  it  asserted  in  the  New  Testament  that  no 
unbaptized  person  shall  partake  of  the  Eucharist  ?*  So  far  from  this,  it 
has  been,  I  trust,  satisfactorily  shown,  that  of  the  original  commu- 
nicants at  its  first  institution,  not  one  was  thus  qualified. 

I  presume  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  the  Jewish  law  was  so  clear 
and  express  in  insisting  on  circumcision  as  a  necessary  preparation  for 
partaking  of  the  paschal  lamb,  that  none  could  mistake  it,  or  approach 
that  feast  in  an  uncircumcised  state,  without  being  guilty  of  wilful 
impiety ;  and  if  it  is  intended  to  insinuate  the  same  charge  against 
Pedobaptists,  let  it  be  alleged  without  disguise,  that  it  may  be  fairly  met 
and  refuted.  But  if  it  be  acknowledged  that  nothing  but  such  involun- 
tary mistakes,  such  unintentional  errors  as  are  incident  to  some  of  the 
wisest  and  best  of  men,  are  imputable  in  the  present  instance,  w^e  are  at 
a  loss  to  conceive  upon  what  principle  they  are  compared  to  wilful  pre- 
varication and  rebellion.  The  degree  of  blame  wdiich  attaches  to  the 
conduct  of  those  who  mistake  the  will  of  Christ  with  respect  to  the 
sacramental  use  of  w'ater  w^e  shall  not  pretend  to  determine ;  but  we 
feel  no  hesitation  in  affirming,  that  the  practice  of  comparing  it  to  a 
presumptuous  violation  and  contempt  of  divine  law  is  equally  repug- 
nant to  the  dictates  of  propriety  and  of  candour.     Among  the  innume- 

*  "  Was  it  the  duty,  think  you,  of  an  ancient  Israelite  to  worship  at  the  sanctuarj-,  or  to  partake 
of  the  paschal  feast,  before  he  was  circumcised  1  Or  was  it  the  duty  of  the  Jewish  priests  to  bum 
incense  in  the  holy  place,  before  they  offered  the  morning  or  evening  service  ?  The  appointments  of 
God  must  be  administered  in  his  own  way,  and  in  ihat  order  which  le  has  fixed." — Ba  '.h's 
Apology,  p.  143. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  307 

rable  descendants  of  Abraliam,  it  is  impossible  to  find  one  since  their 
departure  from  Egypt  who  lias  doubted  of  the  obHgation  of  circum- 
cision, of  the  proper  subjects  of  that  rite,  or  of  its  being  an  indispen- 
sable prerequisite  to  the  privileges  of  the  Mosaic  covenant.  Among 
Christians,  on  the  contrary,  of  unexceptionable  character  and  exalted 
piety,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  subject,  the  mode,  and  the  perpetuity 
of  baptism  have  each  supplied  occasion  for  controversy;  which  can 
only  be  ascribed  to  the  minute  particularity  with  which  the  ceremonies 
of  the  law  were  enjoined,  compared  to  the  concise  brevity  which  char- 
acterizes the  history  of  evangelical  institutes.  We  are  far,  however, 
from  insinuating  a  doubt  on  the  obligation  of  believers  to  submit  to  the 
ordinance  of  baptism,  or  of  its  being  exclusively  appropriated  to  such; 
but  we  affirm  that  in  no  part  of  Scripture  is  it  calculated  as  a  preparative 
to  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  that  this  view  of  it  is  a  mere  fiction  of  the 
imagination. 

When  duties  are  enjoined  in  a  certain  series,  each  of  them,  on  the 
authority  in  which  they  originate,  become  obligatory ;  nor  are  we 
excused  from  performing  those  which  stand  later  in  the  series,  on 
account  of  our  having,  from  misconception  of  their  meaning,  or  from 
any  other  cause,  omitted  the  first.  To  exemplify  this  by  a  familiar 
instance : — It  will  be  admitted  that  the  law  of  nature  enforces  the 
following  duties,  resulting  from  the  relation  of  children  to  their  parents  : 
first,  to  yield  implicit  obedience  in  the  state  of  nonage ;  next,  in 
maturer  age,  to  pay  respectful  deference  to  their  advice,  and  a  prompt 
attention  to  their  wants ;  lastly,  after  they  are  deceased,  affectionately 
to  cherish  their  memory,  and  defend  their  good  name.  None  will  deny 
that  each  of  these  branches  of  conduct  is  obligatory,  and  that  this  is 
the  order  in  which  they  are  recommended  to  our  attention.  But  will  it 
be  contended  that  he  who  has  neglected  the  first  ought  not  to  perform 
the  second ;  or  that  he  who  has  failed  in  the  second  ought  to  omit  the 
third  ?  To  such  an  absurd  pretence  we  should  immediately  reply  that 
they  are  all  independently  obligatory,  as  respective  dictates  of  the  Divine 
will ;  and  that  for  him  who  has  violated  one  of  them  to  urge  his  past 
delinquencies  as  an  apology  for  the  present,  would  only  prove  an 
aggravation  of  his  guilt.  It  is  true  that  some  duties  are  so  situated, 
as  parts  or  appendages  of  preceding  ones,  that  their  obligation  may  be 
said  to  result  from  them  ;  as,  for  example,  the  duty  of  confessing 
Christ  before  men  arises  from  the  previous  duty  of  believing  on  him ; 
and  that  of  joining  a  Christian  society  presupposes  the  obligation  of 
becoming  a  Christian.  In  such  cases,  however,  as  the  connexion 
between  the  respective  branches  of  practice  is  founded  on  the  nature 
of  things,  it  is  easily  perceived,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  the  subject  of  con- 
troversy. In  a  series  of  positive  precepts,  this  principle  has  no  place ; 
as  they  originate  merely  in  arbitrary  appointment,  their  mutual  relation 
can  only  be  the  result  of  clear  and  express  command  ;  and  as  reason 
could  never  have  discovered  their  obligation,  so  it  is  as  little  able  to 
ascertaiu  their  intrinsic  connexion  and  dependence,  which,  wherever  it 
subsists,  must  be  the  effects  of  the  same  positive  prescription  which 
gave  them  birth.     It  canrot  be  pretended  that  an  unbaptized  believe'  is 

U2 


308  TERMS  OF  COMMUWION. 

intrinsically  disqualified  for  a  suitable  attendance  at  the  Lord's  table,  or 
that  it  is  so  essentially  connected  witli  baptism  as  to  render  the  act 
of  communion,  in  itself,  absurd  or  improper.  The  communion  has  no 
retrospective  reference  to  baptism,  nor  is  baptism  an  anticipation  of 
conununion.  Enjoined  at  dilferent  times,  and  appointed  for  diO'erent 
purposes,  they  are  capable,  without  the  least  inconvenience,  of  being 
contemplated  apart ;  and  on  no  occasion  are  they  mentioned  in  such  a 
connexion  as  to  imply,  much  less  to  assert,  that  the  one  is  enjoined 
u-i/h  a  view  to  the  other.  Such  a  connexion,  we  acknowledge,  sub- 
sisted between  the  rites  of  circumcision  and  the  passover ;  and  all  we 
demand  of  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  is,  that  instead  of  amusing 
us  with  fanciful  analogies  drawn  from  an  antiquated  law,  they  would 
point  us  to  some  clause  in  the  New  Testament  which  asserts  a  similar 
relation  between  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  here,  where  tlie 
very  hinge  of  tlie  controversy  turns,  the  Scriptures  are  silent.  They 
direct  us  to  be  baptized,  and  they  direct  us  to  commemorate  the  Sa- 
viour's death ;  but  not  a  syllable  do  they  utter  to  inform  us  of  the 
inseparable  connexion  between  these  two  ordinances.  This  deficiency 
is  ill  supplied  by  fervid  declamation  on  the  perspicuity  of  our  Lord's 
commission,  and  the  inexcusable  inattention  or  prejudice  which  has 
led  to  a  misconception  of  its  meaning  ;  for  let  the  persons  whom  these 
charges  may  concern  be  as  guilty  as  they  may,  since  they  are  still  ac- 
knowledged to  be  Christians,  the  questions  return,  why  are  they  debarred 
from  the  communion  of  saints,  and,  while  entitled  to  all  other  spiritual 
privileges,  supposed  to  be  incapacitated  from  partaking  of  the  symbols 
of  a  crucified  Saviour  1  How  came  the  deteriorating  effects  of  their 
error  respecting  baptism  to  affect  them  but  in  one  point,  that  of  their 
eligibility  as  candidates  for  communion,  without  spreading  further  ? 
That  it  just  amounts  to  a  forfeiture  of  this  privilege,  and  of  no  other, 
is  a  conclusion  to  which,  as  it  is  certain  it  cannot  be  established  by 
reason,  we  ask  to  be  conducted  by  revelation  ;  arid  we  entreat  our 
opponents  for  information  on  that  head  again  and  again,  but  entreat 
in  vain. 

Were  we  to  judge  from  the  ardent  attachment  which  the  abetters  of 
strict  communion,  on  all  occasions,  profess  to  the  positive  institutes  of 
the  gospel,  we  should  suppose  that  the  object  of  their  efforts  was  to 
raise  them  to  their  just  estimation,  and  to  rescue  them  from  desuetude 
and  neglecL  We  should  conjecture  that  they  arose  from  a  solicitude 
to  revive  certain  practices  which  had  prevailed  in  the  purest  ages  of 
the  church,  but  were  afterward  laid  aside,  just  as  the  ordinance  of 
preaching  was,  during  the  triumph  of  the  papacy,  almost  consigned  to 
oblivion  ;  and  that  the  consequence  of  complying  with  their  sugges- 
tions would  be  a  more  complete  exhibition  of  Christianity  in  all  its 
parts.  But  their  zeal  operates  in  quite  a  contrary  direction.  The 
success  of  their  scheme  tends  not  to  extend  the  practice  of  baptism, 
no,  not  in  a  single  instance,  but  merely  to  exclude  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Leaving  the  former  appointment  unaltered  and  untouched,  it  merely 
proposes  to  abolish  the  latter ;  and,  as  far  as  it  is  practicable,  to  lay 
the  Christian  world  under  an  interdict.     The  real  state  of  the  case  is 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  309 

as  follows  : — On  the  subject  of  baptism,  and  particularly  whether  it  is 
applicable  to  infants,  opinions  are  divided,  and  the  majority  have  come, 
as  we  conceive,  to  an  erroneous  conclusion.  How  do  they  propose  to 
remedy  this  evil  ?  By  throwing  all  manner  of  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
an  approach  to  the  Lord's  table,  and,  as  far  as  their  power  extends, 
rendering  it  impracticable,  by  clogging  it  with  a  condition  at  which  con- 
science revolts.  They  propose  to  punish  men  for  the  involuntary 
neglect  of  one  ordinance,  by  compelling  them  to  abandon  the  other  ; 
and  because  they  are  uneasy  at  perceiving  them  perform  but  one  half  of 
their  duty,  oblige  them,  as  far  as  lies  in  their  power,  to  omit  the  whole. 
I  must  confess  I  feel  no  partiality  for  those  violent  remedies,  which, 
under  the  pretence  of  reforming,  destroy ;  or  for  that  passion  for  order 
which  would  rather  witness  the  entire  desolation  of  the  sanctuary,  than 
a  defalcation  of  its  rites  ;  and  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  sopliistry,  I 
must  be  permitted  to  believe  that  our  Lord's  express  injunction  on  his 
followers,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,"  is  a  better  i-eason  for  the 
celebration  of  the  communion  than  can  be  adduced  for  its  neglect. 


SECTION    III. 

The  Argument  from  Apostolical  Precedent,  and  from  tlie  different  Stg- 
nifications  of  the  two  Institutions,  considered. 

In  vindication  of  their  practice,  our  opponents  are  wont  to  urge  the 
order  of  administration  in  the  primitive  and  apostolic  practice.  They 
remind  us  that  the  members  of  the  primitive  church  were  universally 
baptized  j  that  if  we  acknowledge  its  constitution  in  that  respect  to  be 
expressive  of  the  mind  of  Christ,  we  are  bound  to  follow  that  prece- 
dent, and  that  to  deviate  from  it,  in  this  particular,  is  virtually  to  im- 
peach either  the  wisdom  of  our  Lord  or  the  fidelity  of  his  apostles.* 

With  respect  to  the  universality  of  the  ppactice  of  Christian  baptism, 
having  already  stated  our  views,  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  wliat  has 
already  been  advanced,  or  to  recapitulate  the  reasons  on  which  we 
found  our  opinion,  that  it  was  not  extended  to  such  as  were  converted 
previous  to  our  Lord's  resurrection.  Subsequently  to  that  period,  we 
admit,  without  hesitation,  that  the  converts  to  the  Christian  faith  sub- 
mitted to  that  ordinance,  prior  to  their  reception  into  the  Christian 
church.  As  little  are  we  disposed  to  deny  that  it  is  at  present  the  duty 
of  the  sincere  believer  to  follow  their  example,  and  that,  supposing  him 
to  be  clearly  convinced  of  the  nature  and  import  of  baptism,  he  would 
be  guilty  of  a  criminal  irregularity  who  neglected  to  attend  to  it,  pre- 

*  '■'The  order  of  administration,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "in  tlie  primitive  and  apostolic  practice,  now 
demands  our  notice.  That  the  apostles,  wlien  endued  with  power  from  on  high,  understood  our 
Lord  in  the  sense  for  which  we  plead,  and  practised  accordingly,  is  quite  evident.  Then  they  that 
gladly  received  his  word  were,  what?  admitted  to  tlie  Lord's  tal)le?  No,  but  baptized  : — And  the 
same  day  there  were  added  to  them  about  three  thnu.innd  souls  ;  and  they  continued  steadfast  in  the 
apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayer.  If  our  brethren  do  not 
look  upon  the  apostolic  precedent  as  expressive  of  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  as  a  pattern  for  future 
imitatKtn  to  the  end  of  the  world,  lliey  must  consider  the  apostles  as  either  ignorant  of  our  Lord's 
will  or  a.s  unfaithful  iu  the  performance  of  it." — Booth's  Apology,  p.  47,  48. 


310  TERMS  OF  CttMMUNlON. 

vious  to  his  entering  into  Christian  fellowship.  On  the  obligation  ol 
both  the  positive  rites  enjoined  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  prior 
claim  0*'  baptism  to  the  attention  of  such  as  are  properly  enlightened 
on  the  subject,  we  have  no  dispute.  All  we  contend  for  is,  that  they 
do  not  so  depend  one  upon  the  other  that  the  conscientious  omission 
of  the  first  forfeits  the  privilege,  or  cancels  the  duty,  of  observing  the 
second  ;  nor  are  we  able  to  perceive  that  what,  in  the  present  instance, 
is  styled  apostolic  precedent,  at  all  decides  the  question.  To  attempt 
to  determine  under  what  circumstances  the  highest  precedent  possesses 
the  form  of  law,  involves  a  difficult  and  delicate  inquiry ;  for  while  it 
is  acknowledged  that  much  deference  is  due  to  primitive  example,  there 
were  certain  usages  in  apostolical  times  which  few  would  attempt  to 
revive.  There  is  one  general  rule,  however,  applicable  to  the  subject, 
which  is,  that  no  matter  of  fact  is  entitled  to  be  considered  as  an  au- 
thoritative precedent  which  necessarily  arose  out  of  existing  circum- 
stances, so  that  in  the  then  present  state  of  thhigs  it  could  not  fail  to 
have  occurred.  The  foundation  of  this  rule  is  obvious.  Nothing  is  of 
the  nature  of  law  but  what  emanates  from  the  will  of  the  legislator ; 
but  when  a  particular  fact,  recorded  in  an  historical  narration,  is  so 
situated  that  the  contrary  would  have  appeared  incongruous  or  absurd, — 
in  other  words,  when  it  could  not  fail  to  be  the  result  of  previous  oc- 
currences, such  a  fact  is  destitute  of  the  essential  characteristic  of 
a  law ;  it  has  no  apparent  dependence  upon  a  superior  mil. 

Hence  many  practices  occur  in  the  history  of  the  apostolic  transac- 
tions which  it  is  universally  admitted  we  are  not  obliged  to  imitate. 
It  is  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  the  Eucharist  was  first  celebrated  with 
unleavened  bread,  on  the  evening,  in  an  upper  room,  and  to  Jews  only ; 
but  as  we  distinctly  perceive  that  these  particulars  originated  in  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the  time,  we  are  far  from  considering  them  as 
binding.  On  the  same  principle  we  account  for  the  members  of  the 
primitive  church  consisting  only  of  such  as  were  baptized,  without 
erecting  that  circumstance  into  an  invai-iable  rule  of  action.  When  we 
recollect  that  no  error  or  mistake  subsisted,  or  could  subsist,  among 
Christians  at  that  period,  we  are  compelled  to  regard  it  as  the  necessary 
consequence  of  the  state  of  opinions  then  prevalent.  While  all  the 
faithful  concurred  in  their  interpretation  of  the  law  which  enjoins  it, 
how  is  it  possible  to  suppose  it  neglected  ?  or  whence  could  rebaptized 
communicants  have  been  drawn?  Is  this  circumstance,  to  which  so 
much  importance  is  attached,  of  such  a  nature  that  no  account  can  be 
given  of  it,  but  upon  the  principle  of  our  opponents  ?  or  is  it  the  necessary 
consequence  of  the  then  actual  situation  of  the  church?  If  the  latter 
be  admitted,  it  ceases,  for  the  reason  already  alleged,  to  be  a  precedent, 
or  a  rule  for  the  direction  of  future  times. 

We  are  willing  to  go  a  step  further,  and  to  acknowledge  that  he  who, 
convinced  of  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity  by  the  ministry  of  the 
apostles,  had  refused  to  be  baptized,  would  at  that  period  have  been 
justly  debarred  from  receiving  the  sacramental  elements.  While  the 
apostles  were  yet  living,  and  daily  exemplifying  the  import  of  their 
commission  before  the  eyes  of  the  people,  it  would  have  been  impos- 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  311 

sible  to  pretend  ignorance  ;  nor  could  that  sincerity  fail  to  be  sus- 
pected, which  was  not  accompanied  with  an  implicit  submission  to  their 
authority. 

"  He  that  receiveth  you,"  saith  our  Lord,  "  receiveth  me ;  he  that 
rejecteth  you,  rejecteth  me."  Agreeably  to  which  we  find  that  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  did  not  scruple  to  use  the  following  lan- 
guage : — "  By  this  ye  know  the  spirit  of  truth  and  the  spirit  of  error ; 
he  that  is  of  God  heareth  us  ;  he  that  is  not  of  God  hearelh  not  us." 
Such  a  conduct  was  perfectly  proper.  As  there  can  be  but'two  guides 
in  religion,  reason  and  authority,  and  every  man  must  form  his  belief, 
either  by  following  the  light  of  his  own  mind  or  the  information  and 
instruction  he  derives  from  others  ;  so  it  is  equally  evident  it  is  only  by 
the  last  of  these  methods  that  the  benefit  of  a  new  revelation  can  be 
diffused.  Either  we  must  suppose  an  infinite  multitude  of  miracles  per- 
formed on  the  minds  of  individuals  to  convey  the  knowledge  of  super- 
natural truths,  or  that  one  or  more  are  thus  preternaturally  enlightened, 
and  invested  with  a  commission  to  speak  in  the  name  of  God  to  others  ; 
endowed,  at  the  same  time,  with  such  peculiar  powers,  such  a  control 
over  nature,  or  such  a  foresight  of  future  contingencies,  as  shall  be 
sufficient  to  accredit  and  establish  his  mission. 

He  who  refuses  to  submit  to  the  guidance  of  persons  thus  attested 
and  accredited  must  be  considered  as  virtually  renouncing  the  revela- 
tion imparted,  and,  as  the  necessary  consequence,  forfeiting  his  interest 
in  its  blessings.  On  these  grounds  it  is  not  difiicult  to  perceive  that  a 
primitive  convert,  or  rather  pretended  convert,  who,  without  doubting 
that  baptism,  in  the  way  in  which  we  practise  it,  formed  a  part  of  the 
apostolic  commission,  had  refused  compliance,  would  have  been  deemed 
unworthy  Christian  communion,  not  on  account  of  any  specific  connexion 
between  the  two  ordinances,  but  on  account  of  his  evincing  a  spirit 
totallv  repugnant  to  the  mind  of  Christ.  By  rejecting  the  only  authority 
established  upon  earth  for  the  direction  of  conscience,  and  the  termina- 
tion of  doubts  and  controversies,  he  would,  undoubtedly  have  been 
repelled  as  a  contumacious  schismatic.  But  what  imaginable  resem- 
blance is  there  between  such  a  mode  of  procedure  and  the  conduct  of 
our  Pedobaptist  brethren,  who  oppose  no  legitimate  authority,  impeach 
no  part  of  the  apostolic  testimony,  but  mistaking  (in  our  judgment  at 
least)  its  import  in  one  particular,  decline  a  practice  which  many  of 
them  would  be  the  first  to  comply  with,  were  they  once  convinced  it 
was  the  dictate  of  duty  and  the  will  of  Heaven  ?  In  the  one  case  we 
perceive  open  rebellion,  in  the  other  involuntary  error ;  in  the  one  the 
pride  which  opposes  itself  to  the  dictates  of  inspired  wisdom,  in  the 
other  a  specimen  (an  humbling  one  it  is  true)  of  that  infirmity,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  we  all  see  but  in  part,  and  know  but  in  part.  Since, 
whatever  degree  of  prejudice  or  inattention  we  may  be  disposed  to 
impute  to  the  abetters  of  infant  sprinkling,  the  principles  on  which  they 
proceed  are  essentially  different  from  those  which  could  alone  have 
occasioned  the  introduction  of  that  practice  in  apostolic  times,  we  are 
at  a  loss  to  conceive  the  propriety  of  classing  them  together,  or  of 
animadverting  upon  them  with  equal  severity.    The  apostles  would  have 


312  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

repclleil  iVoin  their  communion  men  wlio,  while  they  professed  to  be 
followers  of  Christ,  refused  submission  to  his  inspired  messengers ;  in 
other  worils,  rhev  would  have  rejected  some  of  the  worst  of  men: 
therefore,  say  our  o'jiponents,  we  ieel  ourselves  justified  in  excluding 
multitudes  whom  we  acknowledge  to  be  the  best.  I  am  at  a  loss 
whether  most  to  admire  the  logic,  the  equity,  or  the  modesty  of  such  a 
conclusion. 

Besides,  this  reasoning  from  precedent  is  of  so  flexible  a  nature  that 
it  may  willi  equal  ease  be  employed  in  a  contrary  direction,  and  be 
turned  to  the  annoyance  of  our  opponents.  As  it  is  an  acknowledged 
fact,  that  in  primitive  times  all  the  faithful  were  admitted  to  an  equality 
of  participation  in  every  Christian  privilege  ;  to  repel  the  great  majority 
of  them  on  account  of  an  error,  acknowledged  not  to  be  fundamental, 
is  at  once  a  wide  departure  from  the  apostolic  example,  and  a  palpable 
contradiction  to  the  very  words  employed  in  its  first  institution — "  Drink 
ye  all  of  it ;  do  this  in  remembrance  of  me  :"  words  addressed,  as  has 
already  been  proved,  to  persons  who  had  not  received  Christian  bap- 
tism. If  it  be  replied,  that  though  all  Cliristians  originally  communi- 
cated, yet  from  the  period  of  the  Pentecost,  at  least,  they  were  all 
previously  initiated  by  immersion,  the  inquiry  returns,  were  they  bap- 
tized on  account  of  the  necessary  connexion  of  that  appointment  with 
the  Eucharist,  or  purely  in  deference  to  the  apostolic  injunction  ?  To 
assert  the  former  would  be  palpably  begging  the  question ;  and  if  the 
latter  is  affirmed,  we  reply,  that  as  they  practised  as  they  did  in  defer- 
ence to  the  wall  of  God,  so  our  Pedobaptist  brethren,  in  declining  the 
practice  which  we  adopt,  regulate  their  conduct  by  the  same  principle. 

The  show  of  conformity  to  apostolic  precedent  is  with  the  advocates 
of  strict  communion,  and  nothing  more  ;  the  substance  and  reality  are 
with  us.  Their  conformity  is  to  the  letter,  ours  to  the  spirit ;  theirs 
circumstantial  and  mcidental,  ours  radical  and  essential.  In  withholding 
the  signs  from  those  who  are  in  possession  of  the  thing  signified,  in 
refusing  to  communicate  the  symbols  of  the  great  sacrifice  to  those  who 
are  equally  with  themselves  sprinkled  by  its  blood  and  sharers  of  its 
efficacy,  in  dividing  the  regenerate  into  two  classes,  believers  and  com 
municants,  and  confining  the  church  to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  sect,  they 
have  violated  more  maxims  of  antiquity,  and  receded  further  from  the 
example  of  the  apostles,  than  any  class  of  Christians  on  record. 

We  live  in  a  mutable  Avorld,  and  the  diversity  of  sentiment  which  has 
arisen  in  the  Christian  church  on  the  subject  of  baptism  has  placed 
things  in  a  new  situation,  and  has  given  birth  to  a  case  which  can  be 
determined  only  by  an  appeal  to  the  general  principles  of  the  gospel, 
and  to  those  injunctions  in  particular  which  are  designed  to  regulate 
the  conduct  of  Christians,  whose  judgment  in  points  of  secondary 
moment  differs.  These  we  shall  have  occasion  to  discuss  in  another 
part  of  this  treatise,  where  it  will,  we  trust,  be  satisfactorily  shown  that 
we  are  furnished  with  a  clew  fully  sufficient  for  our  guidance :  and 
when  we  consider  the  impossibility  of  comprehending,  in  any  code 
whatever,  every  possible  combination  of  future  occurrences  and  events, 
we  shall  perceive  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  those  large  and 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  sVi 

comprehensive  maxims  which  the  prospective  wisdom  of  the  Father 
of  liohts  and  the  Author  of  revehition  has  abundantly  supplied. 

Were  it  not  that  more  are  capable  of  numbering  arguments  than  of 
weighing  them,  the  mention  of  the  following  might  be  omitted.  The 
significations  of  the  two  positive  ordinances  of  the  gospel  are  urged  in 
proof  of  the  necessity  of  baptism  preceding  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
first,  we  are  reminded  by  our  opponents,  is  styled  by  theologians  the 
sacrament  of  regeneration,  or  of  initiation ;  the  second,  the  sacrament 
of  nutrition.*  To  argue  from  metaphors  is  rarely  a  conclusive  mode 
of  reasoning ;  but  if  it  were,  the  regenerate  state  of  our  Pedobaptist 
brethren  would  surely  afford  a  much  better  reason  for  admitting  them  to 
the  sacrament  of  nutrition,  than  their  misconception  of  a  particular 
command  for  prohibiting  them,  unless  we  choose  to  affirm  that  the 
shadow  is  of  more  importance  than  the  substance,  or  that  the  sacrament 
of  nutrition  is  not  intended  to  nourish. 

Their  actual  possession  of  spiritual  life  in  consequence  of  their  union 
to  the  Head  of  the  church,  necessarily  implies  a  title  to  every  Christian 
privilege  by  which  such  a  life  is  cherished  and  maintained,  unless  there 
were  an  express  prohibition  to  the  contrary ;  nor  is  it  to  be  doubted  that 
the  acknowledgment  of  Pedobaptists  as  Christians,  implies  a  competence 
to  enter  into  the  full  import  of  the  rites  commemorative  of  our  Lord's 
death  and  passion.  To  consider  the  Lord's  Supper,  however,  as  a  mere 
commemoration  of  that  event  is  to  entertain  a  very  inadequate  view 
of  it.  If  we  credit  St.  Paul,  it  is  also  a  federal  rite  in  which,  in  token 
of  our  reconciliation  with  God,  we  eat  and  drink  in  his  presence  :  it  is 
a  feast  upon  a  sacrifice,  by  which  we  become  partakers  at  the  altar,  not 
less  really,  though  in  a  manner  more  elevated  and  spiritual,  than  those 
who  under  the  ancient  economy  presented  their  offerings  in  the  temple. 
In  this  ordinance,  the  cup  is  a  spiritual  participation  of  the  blood,  the 
bread  of  the  body  of  the  crucified  Saviour :]  and  as  our  Pedobaptist 
brethren  are  allowed  to  be  in  covenant  with  God,  their  title  to  every 
federal  rite  follows  of  course,  unless  it  is  barred  by  some  clear  un- 
equivocal declaration  of  Scripture ;  instead  of  which,  we  meet  with 
nothing  on  the  opposite  side  but  precarious  conjectures  and  remote 
analogies. 

Our  opponents  are  extremely  fond  of  representing  baptism  under  the 
New  Testament  as  essential  as  circumcision  under  the  Old,  inferring 
from  thence  that  no  unbaptized  person  is  admissible  to  the  Eucharist,  for 
the  same  reason  that  no  one  who  was  not  circumcised  was  permitted 
to  partake  of  the  paschal  feast.  But  besides  that  this  is  to  reason  from 
analogy,  a  practice  against  which,  when  applied  to  the  discussion  of 
positive  institutes,  they  on  other  occasions  earnestly  protest,  the  analogy 
fails  in  the  most  essential  points.  Circumcision  is  expressly  stated  as 
a  necessary  condition  of  admission  to  the  passover :  a  similar  statement 

*  "In  submitting  to  baptism,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "we  have  an  emblem  ofour  union  and  communion 
with  Jesus  Christ,  as  our  great  Representative,  in  his  death,  burial,  and  resurrection.  And  as  in 
baptism  we  profess  to  have  renewed  spiritual  life,  so  in  communicating  at  the  Lord's  table  we  have 
the  emblems  of  that  heavenly  food  by  which  we  live,  by  which  we  grow,  and  by  virtue  of  which  we 
liopeto  live  for  ever.  Hence  theologicsil  writers  have  often  called  baptis-m  the  sairanient  of  Tcgene 
ration,  or  of  initiation,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  the  HacTa.mcnto[ nutrition." — BootlCs  Apology. 

t  1  Cor.  xi.  26. 


311  TERMS   OF  COMMUNION. 

respectmo;  baptism  will  decide  the  controversy.  The  neglect  of  circum 
cision,  M'liioh  ooiilil  proceed  from  nothing  but  presumptuous  imi)iety 
incurred  llic  siMitence  of  excision:  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from  the 
ptople.  Whatever  may  be  meant  beside  by  that  comminalion,  it  will 
not  be  doubted  that  it  included  the  entire  forfeiture  of  the  advantages 
of  that  pfruliar  covenant  which  God  was  pleased  to  establish  with  the 
Israelitish  people :  and  the  exclusion  from  the  paschal  feast,  as  well  as 
from  the  other  sacrifices,  was  tlie  necessary  appendage  of  that  forfeiture. 

Tiic  most  violent  Baptist  will  not  presume  to  insinuate  tliat  the 
neglect  of  baptism  from  a  misconception  of  its  nature  is  exposed  to  a 
similar  penalty.  It  is  evident  from  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament, 
that  an  Israelhe  became  disqualified  for  sharing  in  whatever  privileges 
distinguished  that  nation  only  in  consequence  of  such  a  species  of 
criminality  as  cut  him  off  from  the  covenant.  An  interest  in  that  cove- 
nant (the  particular  nature  of  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  insist  upon) 
and  a  free  access  to  all  the  privileges  and  institutions  of  the  Jewish 
people  were  inseparable,  so  that  nothing  would  have  appeared  to  an 
ancient  Jew  more  absurd  than  to  disunite  the  covenant  itself  from  the 
federal  rites  by  which  it  was  ratified  and  confirmed.  The  invention 
of  this  ingenious  paradox  belongs  exclusively  to  the  abetters  of  strict 
communion,  who  in  the  same  breath  affirm  that  Pedobaptists  are  enti- 
tled to  all  the  blessings  of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  and  for- 
bidden to  commemorate  it ;  and  scruple  not  to  assert,  that  though 
interested  as  much  as  themselves  in  the  great  sacrifice,  it  would  be 
presumption  in  them  to  approach  the  sacred  symbols,  which  are  ap- 
pouited  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  hold  it  forth.  It  is  certainly  whh  a 
very  ill  grace  that  the  champions  of  such  monstrous  and  unparalleled 
positions  ridicule  their  opponents  for  inventing  a  new  and  eccentric 
theology.* 

Before  I  dismiss  this  head  I  must  remark,  that  in  insisting  upon  the 
prior  claim  which  baptism  possesses  to  the  attention  of  a  Christian 
convert,  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  triumph  whhout  an  oppo- 
nent. We  know  of  none  who  contend  for  the  propriety  of  inverting 
the  natural  order  of  the  Christian  sacraments  where  they  can  both  be 
attended  to,  that  is,  when  the  nature  of  each  is  clearly  understood  and 
confessed.  To  administer  them  under  any  other  circumstance,  it  will 
be  acknowledged,  is  impracticable.  We  administer  baptism,  let  it  be 
remembered,  in  every  instance  in  which  our  opponents  will  allow  it  ought 
to  be  administered ;  and  the  only  difference  is,  that  we  have  fellowship 
in  another  ordinance  with  those  members  of  the  body  of  Christ  whom 
they  reject.  Let  it  once  be  demonstrated  that  the  obligation  of  com- 
memorating the  Saviour's  death  is   not  sufficiently  supported  by  his 

*  "  The  last  century,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  page  36,  "  was  the  grand  era  of  improvement,  of  prodigious 
improvement,  in  light  and  liberty  :  in  light,  as  well  divine  as  philosophical,  by  the  labours  of  a 
Bacon,  a  Boyle,  and  a  Newton  ;  in  pretended  theological  knowledge  by  those  of  a  Jesse  or  a  Bunyan. 
Did  the  former,  by  deep  researches  into  the  system  of  nature,  surprise  and  instruct  the  world  by 
discoveries  of  which  mankind  had  never  before  conceived?  The  latter,  penetrating  into  the  gospel 
system,  amused  mankind  by  casting  new  light  on  the  positive  institutions  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by 
placing  baptism  among  things  of  little  importance  in  the  Christian  religion,  of  which  no  ancient  theo- 
logian ever  dreamed— none,  we  have  reason  to  think,  that  ever  loved  the  Lord  Redeemer."  A  little 
after  he  adds,  "The  practical  claim  of  dispensing  power  by  Jesse  and  Bunyan  made  way  for  tha 
inglorixnis  liberty  of  treating  positive  institutions  in  the  house  of  God  just  as  professors  please." 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  315 

express  injunction,  but  derives  its  force  and  validity  from  its  insepa- 
rable connexion  with  a  preceding  sacrament,  and  we  are  prepared  to 
abandon  our  practice,  as  a  presumptuous  innovation  on  the  laws  of 
Christ,  Till  then,  we  shall  not  be  much  moved  by  the  charge  of 
claiming  a  dispensing  power,  with  which  we  are  frequently  accused, — 
a  power  which  I  presume  no  Protestant  ever  dreamed  of  usurping,  and 
the  assumption  of  which  implies  such  impiety  as  ought  to  render  a 
Christian  reluctant  to  urge  such  a  charge. 

To  remind  us  of  "  the  destruction  of  Nadab  and  Abihu  by  fire  from 
heaven,  the  breach  that  was  made  upon  Uzzah,  the  stigma  fixed  and 
the  curses  denounced  upon  Jerusalem,  together  with  the  fall  and  ruin 
of  all  mankind  by  our  first  father's  disobedience  to  a  positive  com- 
mand," is  more  calculated  to  inflame  the  passions  than  to  elicit  truth, 
or  conduct  the  controversy  to  a  satisfactory  issue.  When  the  sole 
inquiry  is,  what  is  the  law  of  Christ,  and  we  are  fully  persuaded  that 
our  interpretation  of  it  is  more  natural  and  reasonable  than  that  of  our 
opponents,  it  is  not  a  little  absurd  to  charge  us  with  assuming  a  claim 
of  dispensing  with  its  authority.  We  know  that  he  commanded  his 
followers  to  be  baptized ;  we  know  also  that  he  commanded  them  to 
show  forth  his  death  till  he  came :  but  where  shall  we  look  for  a  tittle 
of  his  law  which  forbids  such  as  sincerely  though  erroneously  believe 
themselves  to  have  complied  wuh  the  first  to  attend  to  the  last  of 
these  injunctions'?  Where  is  the  scriptural  authority  for  resting  the 
obligation  of  the  Eucharist,  not  on  the  precept  that  enjoins  it,  but 
on  tlie  previous  reception  of  baptism?  As  the  Scripture  is  totally 
silent  on  this  point,  we  are  not  disposed  to  accept  the  officious  assist- 
ance of  our  brethren  in  supplying  its  deficiency;  and  beg  permission 
to  remind  them,  that  to  add  to  the  Word  of  God  is  equally  criminal 
with  taking  away  from  it. 

Do  we  neglect  the  administration  of  that  rite  to  any  class  of  persons 
^yhose  state  of  mind  is  such  as  would  render  it  acceptable  to  God  ? 
Do  we  neglect  to  illustrate  and  enforce  it  in  our  public  ministrations  ? 
Are  we  accustomed  to  insinuate  that  serious  inquiry  into  the  mind  of 
Christ  on  this  subject  is  of  little  or  no  importance  1  Are  we  found  to 
decline  its  administration  in  any  case  whatever  in  which  our  accusers 
would  not  equally  decline  it?  Notliingof  this  can  be  alleged.  Do  they 
argue  from  the  language  of  the  original  institute,  from  the  examples  of 
Scripture,  and  the  precedent  of  the  early  ages,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  be- 
lievers, without  exception,  to  be  immersed  in  the  name  of  Jesus  ?  So 
do  we.  '  Are  they  disposed  to  look  upon  such  as  have  neglected, 
whether  from  inattention  or  prejudice,  to  perform  this  duty,  as  mistaken 
Christians?  We  also  consider  them  in  the  same  light.  In  what 
respect,  then,  are  we  guilty  of  dispensing  with  divine  laws  ?  Merely 
because  we  are  incapable  of  perceiving  tliat  an  involuntary  mistake  on 
this  subject  disqualifies  for  Christian  communion.  But  how  extremely 
unjust  to  load  us  on  that  account  with  the  charge  of  assuming  a  dis- 
pensing power,  when  the  only  ground  on  which  wc  maintain  our  opinion, 
whether  true  or  false,  is  our  conviction  that  it  is  founded  on  a  legitimate 
interpretation  of  the  oracles  of  God.     The  dispute  is  not  concerning 


316  TERMS  OF  COMMUNIOJN. 

their  authority,  but  their  meaning;  and  we  dispense  with  baptism  in  no 
other  sense  than  ih;U  of  denying  it  to  be  in  all  cases  essential  to  com- 
munion ;  in  wiiich,  whether  we  are  mistaken  or  not,  is  a  point  open  to 
controversy  ;  hut  to  he  guilty,  lirst  of  a  misnomer  in  dcfniing  our  senti- 
ments, and  afterward  to  convert  an  odious  and  erroneous  appellation 
into  an  argument,  is  the  heiglit  of  injustice. 

With  what  propriety  our  practice  is  compared  to  that  of  the  Church 
of  Home,  in  confuiing  tlie  coumiunion  to  one  kind,  the  intelligent  reader 
will  be  at  no  loss  to  perceive.*  In  that,  as  in  various  other  instances, 
that  church,  in  order  to  raise  the  dignity  of  the  priesthood,  assumes  a 
power  of  nuuilating  a  divine  ordinance.  We  are  chargeable  with  no 
mutilation,  nor  presume  in  the  smallest  particular  to  innovate  in  the 
celebration  of  either  sacrament ;  we  merely  refuse  to  acknowledge 
that  dependence,  one  upon  the  other,  on  which  the  confidence  of  our 
opponents  is  so  ill  sustained  by  the  silence  of  Scripture. 

We  will  close  this  part  of  the  discussion  by  remarking,  that  there  is 
a  happy  equivocation  in  the  word  dispense,  which  has  contributed  not  a 
little  to  its  introduction  into  the  present  controversy.  It  may  either 
mean  that  we  do  not  insist  upon  baptism  as  an  indispensable  condition 
of  communion,  in  which  sense  the  charge  is  true,  but  nothing  to  the 
purpose,  since  it  is  a  mere  statement,  in  other  words,  of  our  actual 
practice ;  or  it  may  intend  that  we  knowingly  and  deliberately  deviate 
from  the  injunctions  of  Scripture, — a  serious  accusation,  which  requires 
not  to  be  asserted,  but  proved. 


SECTION    IV. 

Our  supposed  Opposition  to  the  Universal  Suffrages  of  the  Church  con 

sidered. 

In  admitting  to  our  communion  those  whom  we  esteem  tinhaptized,  we 
are  accused  of  a  presumptuous  departure  from  the  sentiments  of  all 
parties  and  denominations  throughout  the  Christian  world,  who,  how- 
ever they  may  have  differed  upon  other  subjects,  have  unanimously  con- 
curred in  considering  baptism  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  com- 
munion.f 

*  "  It  miLst,  I  think,  be  acknowledged,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "  even  by  our  brethren  themselves,  that 
we  have  as  good  a  warrant  for  omillins  an  essential  branch  of  an  ordinance,  or  to  reverse  the  order 
in  which  the  constituent  parts  of  an  ordinance  were  oripinally  administered,  as  we  have  to  lay  aside 
a  divine  institution,  or  to  change  the  order  in  which  two  difffreni  appointments  were  first  fixed 
And  if  so,  were  a  reformed  and  converted  Cntholic,  still  retaining  the  ))opish  error  of  communion  in 
(me  kind  only,  desirous  of  having  fellowship  with  our  brethren  at  the  Lord's  table,  they  must,  if  they 
would  act  consistently,  on  their  present  hypothesis,  admit  him  to  i>artake  of  the  bread,  tiiough,  from 
a  principle  of  conscience,  he  absolutely  refused  the  wine  in  that  sacred  institution." — BuotKs  Apol- 
ogy, p.  51. 

t  Thus  charge  ie  tirged  with  much  declamatorj'  vehemence  by  Mr  Booth,  in  his  Apology  . — "  A 
sentiment  so  peculiar,  and  a  conduct  so  uncommon,"  he  says,  "  in  regard  to  this  institution,  ought  to 
be  well  supported  bv  the  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For.  were  all  the  Christian  churches  now  in 
the  world  asked,  except  those  few  who  plead  for  free  communion  whether  they  thought  it  lawful  to 
admit  unbapHzed  believers  to  fellowship  at  the  Lord's  table,  there  is  reason  to  believe  they  would 
readily  unite  in  the  declaration  of  Paul,  IV'f  have  no  such  custom,  neither  the  churches  nf  God  that 
were  before  us.  Yes,  considering  the  novelty  of  their  sentiments  and  conduct,  and  what  a  contra- 
diction tliey  are  to  the  faith  and  order  of  the  whole  Christian  church ;  considering  that  it  never  was 


TLRMS  OF  COMMUNION.  317 

The  first  remark  which  occurs  on  this  mode  of  reasoning  is,  that  it  is 
merely  an  argumentum  ad  verecundiam, — an  attempt  to  overawe  by  the 
weight  of  authority,  without  pretending  to  enter  into  the  merits  of  the 
controversy.  It  assumes  for  its  basis  the  impossibihty  of  the  universal 
prevalence  of  error,  which  if  it  be  once  admitted,  all  hopes  of  extending 
the  boundaries  of  knowledge  must  be  relinquished.  My  next  observa- 
tion is,  that  it  comes  with  peculiar  infelicity  from  the  members  of  a  sect 
who,  upon  a  subject  of  much  greater  moment,  have  presumed  to  relin- 
quish the  precedent,  and  arraign  the  practice  of  the  whole  Christian 
world,  as  far  at  least  as  they  have  been  exhibited  in  these  later  ages. 

"  Quis  tulerit  Gracchos,  de  seditione  querentes  ?" 

After  setting  an  example  of  revolt,  it  is  too  late  for  them  to  inculcate 
the  duty  of  submission. 

The  question  of  tlie  necessary  dependence  of  communion  on  baptism 
being  of  no  practical  moment  whatever  in  any  other  circumstances  than 
our  own,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  it  has  never  been  subjected  to 
scrutiny ;  since  cases  of  conscience,  among  which  this  inquiry  may  be 
classed,  are  rarely  if  ever  investigated  until  circumstances  occur  which 
render  their  discussion  necessary.  But  as  infant-sprinkling  is  valid  in 
the  esteem  of  all  but  the  Baptists,  and  there  is  no  pretence  for  con- 
sidering the  latter  as  unbaptized,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  what  motive 
could  exist  for  making  it  an  object  of  serious  attention.  That  crude 
and  erroneous  conceptions  should  prevail  upon  questions  the  decision 
of  which  could  have  no  influence  on  practice,  will  not  surprise  those 
who  reflect  that  truth  has  been  usually  elicited  by  controversy,  and  that 
on  subjects  of  too  great  importance  to  be  entirely  overlooked,  opinions 
have  prevailed  to  a  great  extent  which  are  now  universally  exploded. 
Though  the  employment  of  coercion  in  the  affairs  of  conscience  'is 
equally  repugnant  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  of  Scripture,  it  was  for 
ages  successively  resorted  to  by  every  party  in  its  turn ;  nor  was  it  till 
towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  that  the  principle  of  tole- 
ration was  established  on  a  broad  and  scientific  basis,  by  the  immortal 
writings  of  Milton  and  Locke.  These  reflections  are  obvious;  but 
there  are  others  which  tend  more  immediately  to  annihilate  the  objec- 
tion under  consideration.  It  is  well  known  that  from  a  very  early 
period  the  most  extravagant  notions  prevailed  in  the  Church  with 
respect  to  the  efficacy  of  baptism,  and  its  absolute  necessity  in  order  to 
attain  salvation.  The  descent  of  the  human  mind  from  the  spirit  to 
the  letter,  from  what  is  vital  and  intellectual  to  what  is  ritual  and 
external  in  religion,  is  the  true  source  of  idolatry  and  superstition  in 
all  the  multifarious  forms  they  have  assumed  ;  and  as  it  began  early  to 
corrupt  the  religion  of  nature,  or,  more  properly,  of  patriarchal  tradition, 
so  it  soon   obscured  the  lustre,   and  destroyed  the   simplicity  of  the 

diaputed,  as  far  asl  can  learn,  prior  to  the  sixteentli  century,  by  orlhodoj;  or  heterodox,  by  Papist  oir 
Prol(,'t;tnnt,  whetherii iibapt.ized  believers  should  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  thoy  all  agreeing  iu 
the  contrary  practice,  however  much  they  dilTered  in  matters  of  equal  importance  ;  it  may  be  rea- 
sonably expected,  and  it  is  by  us  justly  demanded,  that  the  truth  of  their  sentiment,  and  the  rectitude 
of  their  conduct,  should  be  proved,  fully  proved,  from  the  records  of  Inspiration," — Sooth'* 
Apology,  p.  43. 


318  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

(■hristiaii  iiisiiiutc.  In  jnoportion  :is  genuine  devotion  declined,  the  love 
of  pomp  and  ccieinony  increased ;  the  few  and  simple  rites  of  Ciiris- 
titiniiv  were  extolled  beyond  all  reasonable  bounds ;  new  onej  were 
invented,  to  which  mysterious  meanings  were  attached,  till  the  religion 
of  the  New  Testament  became,  in  process  of  time,  as  insupportable  a 
yoke  as  the  Mosaic  law.  The  lirst  elTects  of  this  spirit  are  discernible 
in  the  itleas  entertained  of  the  ordinance  so  closely  comiected  with  the 
subject  of  the  present  treatise.  From  an  erroneous  interpretation  of 
the  jigurative  language  of  a  few  passages  in  Scripture,  in  which  the 
sign  is  identified  with  the  thing  signified,  very  similar  to  the  mistake 
which  afterward  led  to  transubstantiation,  it  was  universally  supposed 
that  baptism  was  invariably  accompanied  with  a  supernatural  effect, 
which  totally  changed  the  state  and  character  of  the  candidate,  and 
constituted  him  a  child  of  God  and  an  heir  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Hence  it  was  almost  constantly  denoted  by  the  terms  illumination,  re- 
generation, and  others,  expressive  of  the  highest  operations  of  the 
Spirit ;  and  as  it  was  believed  to  obtain  the  plenary  remission  of  all 
past  sins,  it  was  often,  in  order  to  ensure  that  benefit,  purposely  deferred 
to  the  latest  period  of  life.  Thus  Eusebius  informs  us  that  the  Em- 
peror Constantine,  "  finding  his  end  fast  approaching,  judged  it  a  fit 
season  for  purifying  himself  from  his  offences,  and  cleansing  his  soul 
from  that  guilt  which  in  common  with  other  mortals  he  had  contracted, 
which  he  believed  was  to  be  effected  by  the  power  of  mysterious 
words,  and  the  saving  laver."  "  This,"  said  he,  addressing  the  sur- 
rounding bishops,  "  is  the  period  I  have  so  long  hoped  and  prayed  for, 
the  period  of  obtaining  the  salvation  of  God."  Passing  with  the  utmost 
rapidity  through  the  preparatory  stage,  that  of  a  catechumen,  he  has- 
tened to  w'hat  he  regarded  as  his  consummation  ;  and  no  sooner  was 
the  ceremony  completed,  than  he  arrayed  himself  in  white  garments, 
and  laid  aside  the  imperial  purple,  in  token  of  his  bidding  adieu  to  all 
secular  concerns.*  We  have  here  a  fair  specimen  of  the  sentiments 
which  were  universally  adopted  upon  this  subject  in  ancient  times. 
Even  Justin  Martyr,  w-ho  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  confounds  baptism  with  regeneration.  "  Whoever,"  says  he, 
"  believe  the  things  which  are  affirmed  by  us  to  be  true,  and  promise  to 
live  accordingly,  are  afterward  conducted  to  a  place  where  there  is 
water,  and  are  regenerated  by  the  same  method  of  regeneration 
which  we  have  experienced,"!  Theophilus,  a  contemporary  writer,  and 
the  sixth  bishop  of  Antioch,  holds  the  same  language.  Tertullian,  the 
earliest  and  most  learned  of  the  Latin  fathers,  exclaims,  with  rapture, 
"  0  happy  sacrament,  by  w'hich,  being  washed  from  the  former  sins  of 
our  blindness,  we  are  delivered  unto  eternal  life."|  And  agreeable  to 
the  fantastic  style  of  imagery  which  characterizes  his  writings,  he 
appears  to  be  particularly  delighted  with  denominating  Christians  little 
fishes,  who  are  born  in  water,  and  are  safe  only  in  that  element.  Were 
we  to  attempt  accurately  to  trace  the  progress  of  these  opinions  in  the 
first  ages,  and  adequately  to  represent  the  extent  of  their  prevalence, 

*  Eusebius  in  VitA  Constantini,  lib.  iv.  c.  61,  02.  t  Apol  p.  159.  Ed.  1651. 

}  De  Baptismo,  p.  224,  Ed.  1676. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  319 

we  should  be  under  the  necessity,  by  numberless  quotations  from  the 
fathers,  of  extending  this  inquiry  to  a  most  unreasonable  length. 

Suffice  it  to  remark,  that  there  is  scarcely  a  writer  in  the  first  three 
centuries,  to  descend  no  lower,  who  has  not  spoken  upon  this  subject  in 
a  manner  which  the  advocates  for  strict  communion  at  least  would 
deem  unscriptural  and  improper :  scarcely  one  from  whom  we  should 
not  be  taught  to  infer  that  baptism  was  absolutely  necessary  to  salva- 
tion. That  this  is  the  doctrine  which  pervades  the  formularies  of  the 
Church  of  England  is  too  evident  to  require  to  be  insisted  on ;  nor  is 
it  less  so,  that  similar  sentiments  on  this  head  are  exhibited,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  in  the  creeds  of  most,  if  not  all,  established  churches. 
Is  it  surprising,  then,  that  those  who  contend  for  baptism  as  essential  to 
salvation  should  consider  it  as  an  essential  prerequisite  to  communion  1 
Or  is  it  not  a  much  juster  occasion  for  surprise,  that  our  opponents 
should  urge  us  with  an  inference  which  it  is  acknowledged  was  deduced 
from  erroneous  premises  ;  as  though  we  were  under  the  necessity  of  ad- 
mitting a  conclusion,  while  the  only  argument  by  which  it  is  supported 
is  given  up  1* 

For  our  parts,  we  must  be  permitted  to  look  with  suspicion  on  the 
genuine  product  of  error ;  no  more  expecting  to  derive  truth  from  erro- 
neous premises  than  grapes  from  thorns,  or  figs  from  thistles.  In  the 
present  instance,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  opinion  of  the  absolute  neces 
sity  of  baptism  previous  to  communion  sprang  from  those  lofty  and 
superstitious  ideas  respecting  its  efiicacy  which  our  opponents  would  be 
the  first  to  disclaim.  Ask  a  Roman  Catholic,  a  Lutheran,  or  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  England,.on  what  ground  he  rests  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  the  baptismal  rite  as  a  qualification  for  the  Eucharist,  and  each 
of  them  will  concur  in  reminding  you,  that  it  is  by  that  ordinance  we 
become  the  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  his  kingdom.  The  Augsburg 
Confession,  to  which  all  the  Lutheran  churches  are  supposed  to  assent, 
and  which  was  solemnly  presented  to  Charles  the  Fifth  at  the  imperial 
diet,  as  the  authentic  exhibition  of  their  sentiments,  expresses  itself  in 
the  following  terms  : — "  Concerning  baptism,  they  (the  followers  of 
Luther)  teach,  that  it  is  necessary  to  salvation ;  that  by  baptism  is  offered 
the  grace  of  God;  and  that  children  are  to  be  baptized,  who,  being  pre- 
sented to  God  by  baptism,  are  received  into  the  grace  of  God.  They 
condemn  the  Anabaptists,  who  disapprove  of  the  baptism  of  children, 
and  affirm  that  children  are  saved  without  baptism. "f  Some  of  the 
most  learned  divines  of  the  Church  of  England  have  contended  that 
baptism  is  not  only  regeneration,  but  justification  ;  and  have  made 
elaborate  attempts  to  explode  every  other  notion  of  that  blessing.J 

Such  are  the  principles  whence  this  vaunted  unanimity  is  derived » 
principles  which  our  brethren  reprobate  on  all  occasions,  while,  with  a 

*  Considering  the  firm  hold  which  these  unscriptural  ideas  respecting  baptism  had  taken  of  the 
minds  of  men  throughout  all  parts  of  the  Christian  world  at  an  early  period,  and  reiolh-ciinff  the 
confidence  with  which  ancient  writers  assert  the  impossihility  even  of  inlants  beinj;  saved  without 
baptism,  the  practice  of  infant-sprinkling  seems  an  almost  necessary  result.  Wiio,  with  such  a 
tjonviciion,  possessed  of  the  conunon  feelings  of  a  parent,  could  fall  to  secure  to  his  olfspring  Bucb 
infinite  benefits' 

t  Augsburg  Confession,  Article  IX. 

;  See  Waterland's  Sermon  on  that  subject. 


320  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

strange  inconsistency,  they  accuse  us  of  presumption  in  refusing  our 
assent  to  their  legitimate  consequences.  Let  it  be  recollected  also,  that 
the  points  in  wliicli  they,  in  common  with  ourselves,  dissent  from  avast 
majoritv  of  the  professors  of  Christianity,  arc  of  incomparably  more 
importance  tlian  the  particular  in  which  they  agree  :  for  whetlier  bap- 
tism l>e,  on  all  occasions,  a  necessary  preliminary  to  conunimion  is  a 
trivial  question,  compared  to  that  which  respects  the  identity  of  baptism 
with  regeneration. 

The  argument  from  authority,  however,  when  fairly  stated,  is  entu*ely 
in  our  favour ;  nor  would  it  be  easy  to  assign  an  example  of  bolder 
deviation  from  the  universal  practice  of  the  Christian  church  than  the 
conduct  of  o.ur  opponents  supplies.  They  are  the  only  persons  in  the 
world  of  whom  we  have  either  heard  or  read  who  contend  for  the  ex 
elusion  of  genuine  Christians  from  the  Lord's  table ;  who  evei 
attempted  to  distinguish  them  into  two  classes,  such  as  are  entitled  to 
commemorate  their  Saviour's  death,  and  such  as  are  excluded  from  that 
privilege.  In  what  page  of  the  voluminous  records  of  the  church  is 
such  a  distinction  to  be  traced?  Or  what  intimation  shall  we  find  in 
Scripture  of  an  intention  to  create  such  an  invidious  disparity  among 
the  members  of  the  same  body  ?  Did  it  ever  enter  the  conception  of 
any  but  Baptists,  that  a  right  to  the  sign  could  be  separated  from  the 
thing  signified ;  or  that  there  could  be  a  description  of  persons  inter- 
ested in  all  the  blessings  of  the  Christian  covenant,  yet  not  entitled  to 
partake  of  its  sacraments  and  seals  ? 

In  the  judgment  of  all  religious  communities  besides,  and  in  every 
period  of  the  church,  excommunication  or  exclusion  has  been  con- 
sidered as  a  stigma  never  to  be  inflicted  but  on  men  of  ill  lives,  or  on 
,the  abetters  of  heresy  and  schism ;  and  though  innumerable  instances 
have  occurred  in  which  the  best  of  men  have,  in  fact,  been  excluded, 
they  were  either  accused  of  fundamental  error,  or  adjudged,  on  account 
of  their  obstinate  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  church,  to  have  for- 
feited the  privileges  of  Christians.  They  were  not  excommunicated 
under  the  character  of  mistaken  brethren,  w'hich  is  the  light  in  Miiich 
we  profess  to  consider  Pedobaptists,  but  as  incurable  heretics  and  schis- 
matics. The  puritans  were  expelled  the  Church  of  England  on  the 
same  principle  ;  and  although  at  the  Restoration,  a  vindictive  spirit  was 
unquestionably  the  chief  motive  to  those  disgraceful  proceedings,  yet 
the  pretensions  of  ecclesiastical  authority  were  carried  so  high  in  those 
unhappy  times  as  to  furnish  the  pretext  for  considering  them  as  contu- 
macious contemners  of  the  power,  and  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the 
church.  In  the  whole  course  of  ecclesiastical  proceedings,  no  maxim 
was  more  fully  recognised  than  that  the  sword  of  excommunication  cut 
asunder  the  ties  of  fraternity,  and  consigned  the  offender,  unless  he 
repented,  to  hopeless  perdition. 

In  some  dissenting  societies  also,  it  is  true,  creeds  are  established 
which  every  candidate  for  admission  is  expected  to  subscribe ;  and 
though  these  summaries  of  Christian  doctrine  frequently  contain 
articles  which,  admitting  them  to  be  true,  are  not  fundamental,  they 
were  originally  deemed  such  by  their  fabricators,  or  supposed,  at  least,  • 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  321 

.0  be  accompanied -with  such  a  plenitude  of  evidence  as  no  sincere 
inquirer  could  resist;  and  they  are  continued  under  the  same  per 
suasion. 

The  right  of  rejecting  those  whom  Christ  has  received,  of  refusing 
the  communion  of  eminently  holy  men  on  account  of  unessential  dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  is  not  the  avowed  tenet  of  any  sect  or  community 
in  Christendom,  with  the  exception  of  the  majority  of  the  Baptists,  who, 
while  they  are  at  variance  with  the  whol?  world  )n  a  point  of  such  mag- 
nitude, are  loud  in  accusing  their  brethren  of  singularity.  If  we  have 
presumed  to  resist  the  current  of  opinion,  it  is  on  a  subject  of  no  prac- 
tical moment;  it  respects  an  obscure  and  neglected  corner  of  theology; 
while  their  singularity  is  replete  with  most  alarming  consequences, 
destroys  at  once  the  unity  of  the  chm-ch,  and  pronounces  a  sentence  of 
excommunication  on  the  whole  Christian  world. 

•  Having,  without  disguise,  exhibited,  in  their  full  force,  the  reasoning 
of  the  advocates  of  strict  communion,  and  replied  to  it  in  the  best  manner 
we  are  able,  it  must  be  left  to  the  impartial  reader  to  determine  on 
which  side  the  evidence  preponderates ;  of  which  he  will  be  able  to 
judge  more  completely  when  we  have  stated  at  large  the  grounds  of  the 
opposite  practice,  which  we  have  reserved  for  the  Second  Part  of  this 
treatise ;  where  we  shall  have  an  opportunity  of  noticing  some  minor 
objections,  which  could  not  be  so  conveniently  adverted  to  in  the  former 


PART    II. 

THE    POSITIVE    GROUNDS    ON   WHICH   WE    JUSTIFY   THE 
PRACTICE   OF   MIXED   COMMUNION. 

SECTION    I. 

Free  Communion  urged  from  the  Obligation  of  Brotherly  Love. 

That  we  are  commanded,  in  terms  the  most  absolute,  to  cultivate  a 
sincere  and  warm  attachment  to  the  members  of  Christ's  body,  and 
that  no  branch  of  Christian  duty  is  inculcated  more  frequently,  or  with 
more  force,  will  be  admitted  without  controversy.  Our  Lord  instructs 
us  to  consider  it  as  the  principal  mark  or  feature  by  which  his  followers 
are  to  be  distmguished  in  every  age.  "  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that 
ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  love  one  another.  As  I  have  loved  you,  ye 
ought  also  to  love  one  another;"  whence  it  is  evident  that  the  pattern 
we  are  to  foUow  is  the  love  which  Christ  bore  to  his  church,  which  is 
undoubtedly  extended  indiscriminately  to  every  member.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  this  disposition  is  affirmed  to  be  one  of  the  most  essential  objects 
of  the  Christian  revelation,  as  well  as  the  most  precious  fruit  of  that 
faith  by  which  it  is  embraced.     "  Seeing,"  says  St.  Peter,  "  ye  have 

Vol.  I.— X 


822  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

purititil  your  liearts  by  obeying  the  truth  unto  an  unfeigned  love  of  the 
bretliren,  see  that  ye  love  one  another  with  a  pure  heart  fervently.' 
Agreea!ilv  to  which,  the  beloved  disciple  afhrms  it  to  be  tlie  cliief  evi 
dence  of  our  being  in  a  state  of  grace  and  salvation.  "By  tliis  we 
know  that  we  are  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the 
brethren."  Let  it  also  be  remembered,  that  the  mode  in  which  wc  are 
commanded  to  exhil)it  and  express  this  most  eminent  grace  of  the  Spirit 
is  the  preservation  of  union,  a  careful  avoidance  of  every  temper  and 
practice  which  might  produce  alienation  and  division.  To  this  purpose, 
St.  Paul  reminds  us  of  that  union  wliich  subsists  between  the  several 
parts  of  the  body,  the  harmony  with  which  its  respective  functions  are 
carried  on,  where  the  noblest  organ  is  incapable  of  dispensing  with  the 
action  of  the  meanest,  together  with  that  quick  feeling  of  sympathy 
which  pervades  the  whole ;  all  which,  he  tells  us,  is  contrived  and 
adjusted  to  prevent  a  schism  in  the  body.  In  applying  this  illustration 
to  the  subject  before  us,  it  is  impossible  not  to  perceive  that  when  one 
part  of  Christ's  mystical  body  refuses  to  co-operate  with  another  in  a 
principal  spirhual  function,  such  as  communing  at  the  Lord's  table,  that 
very  evil  subsists  against  which  we  are  so  anxiously  guarded ;  and, 
what  is  more  extraordinary,  subsists  upon  the  principle  we  are  opposing, 
by  Divine  appointment.  In  the  last  prayer  our  Saviour  uttered,  in  Avhich 
he  expressly  includes  all  who  should  hereafter  believe,  he  earnestly 
entreats  that  they  may  be  all  one,  even  as  he  and  his  Father  were  one, 
that  the  world  might  be  furnished  with  a  convincing  evidence  of  his 
mission.  For  some  ages  the  object  of  that  prayer  was  realized,  in  the 
harmony  which  prevailed  among  Christians,  whose  religion  was  a 
bond  of  union  more  strict  and  tender  than  the  ties  of  consanguinity; 
and  with  the  appellation  of  brethren,  they  associated  all  the  sentiments 
of  endearment  that  relation  implied.  To  see  men  of  the  most  contrary 
character  and  habits,  the  learned  and  the  rude,  the  most  polished  and 
the  most  uncultivated,  the  inhabitants  of  countries  alienated  from  each 
other  by  institutions  the  most  repugnant,  and  by  contests  the  most 
violent,  forgetting  their  ancient  animosity,  and  blending  into  one  mass, 
at  the  command  of  a  person  whom  they  had  never  seen,  and  who  had 
ceased  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  this  world,  was  an  astonishing  spectacle. 
Such  a  sudden  assimilation  of  the  most  discordant  materials,  such  love 
issuing  from  hearts  naturally  selfish,  and  giving  birth  to  a  new  race  and 
progeny,  could  be  ascribed  to  nothing  but  a  Divine  interposition  :  it  was 
an  experimental  proof  of  the  commencement  of  that  kingdom  of  God, 
that  celestial  economy,  by  which  the  powers  of  the  future  world  are 
imparted  to  the  present.  When  we  turn  from  contemplating  this  to  the 
practice  under  consideration,  we  see  an  opposite  phenomenon ;  a  sect 
of  Christians  coming  to  an  open  rupture  and  separation  in  point  of 
communion  with  the  whole  Christian  world;  and  we  ask  whether  itbe 
possible  to  reconcile  such  a  conduct  with  the  import  of  our  Saviour's 
prayer.  If  it  is  not,  it  must  be  condemned  as  aniichristian,  unless  we 
hesitate  to  affirm,  that  whatever  is  repugnant  to  the  mind  of  Christ 
merits  that  appellation.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  that  though  the 
prayer  we  have  adduced  was  uttered  by  Him  who  possessed  a  perfect 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  323 

jtnowledge  of  futurity,  and  was  thoroughly  apprized  of  the  diversities 
of  sentiment  which  would  arise  among  his  followers,  he  was  not  de- 
terred by  that  consideration  from  comprehending  in  this  his  desire  of 
union  all  who  should  hereafter  believe  on  his  name. 

Whatever  attachment  our  opponents  may  profess  to  those  whom  they 
exclude,  their  behaviour,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  is  so  ill  adapted  to 
accredit  their  professions,  that  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  who  judge  by 
sensible  appearances,  and  are  strangers  to  subtle  distinctions,  such  a 
proceeding  will  inevitably  be  considered  as  a  practical  declaration  that 
the  persons  from  whom  they  separate  are  not  Christians.  There  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  on  this  as  well  as  every 
other  branch  of  morals  are  to  be  interpreted  on  a  liberal  scale  ;  and 
that  when  they  enjoin  any  particular  disposition  in  general  terms,  we 
must  consider  the  injunction  as  comprehending  all  its  natural  demonstra- 
tions, all  its  genuine  expressions.  But  to  refuse  the  communion  of 
sincere  Christians  is  not  a  natural  expression  of  Christian  love,  but  so 
diametrically  opposite,  that  we  may  fairly  put  it  to  the  conscience  of 
those  who  contend  for  such  a  measure,  whether  they  find  it  possible  to 
carry  it  into  execution  without  an  inward  struggle,  without  feeling 
emotions  of  sorrow  and  concern.  It  is  to  inflict  a  wound  on  the  very 
heart  of  charity,  for  no  fault,  for  none  at  least  of  which  the  ofiender  is 
conscious,  for  none  which  such  treatment  has  the  remotest  tendency  to 
correct ;  and  if  this  is  not  being  guilty  of  "  beating  our  fellow-servant," 
we  must  despair  of  ascertaining  the  meaning  of  terms. 

Were  the  children  of  the  same  parent,  in  consequence  of  the  diflferent 
construction  they  put  on  a  disputed  clause  in  their  father's  will,  to 
refuse  to  eat  at  the  same  table,  or  to  drink  out  of  the  same  cup,  it  would 
he  ridiculous  for  them  to  pretend  that  their  attachment  to  each  other 
remamed  undiminished  ;  nor  is  it  less  so  for  Christians  to  assert  that 
their  withdrawing  from  communion  with  their  brethren  is  no  interrup- 
tion to  their  mutual  harmony  and  affection.  It  is  a  serious  and  awful 
interruption,  and  will  ever  be  considered  in  that  light  as  long  as  the 
interior  sentiments  of  the  mind  continue  to  be  interpreted  by  their  natural 
signs.  I  have  known  more  instances  than  one  of  good  men  complaining 
of  the  uneasiness,  I  might  say  the  anguish,  they  felt  on  those  occasions, 
when  they  witnessed  some  of  their  most  intimate  friends,  persons  of 
exalted  piety,  compelled,  after  joining  in  the  other  branches  of  worship, 
to  withdraw  from  the  Lord's  table,  as  though  "  they  had  no  part  or  lot 
m  the  matter."  We  have  been  accustomed  to  conceive  that  the  dictates 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  were  always  in  harmony  with  his  operations,  the 
precepts  of  the  gospel  with  its  spirit ;  and  that  nothing  was  enjoined  as 
matter  of  duty  on  Christians  which  offered  violence  to  the  best  feelings 
of  the  renewed  heart.  We  have  always  supposed  that  by  the  law  of 
Christ  we  were  called  to  mortify  the  old  man  only  with  his  affections 
and  lusts ;  but  if  the  doctrine  of  our  opponents  be  true,  we  shall  be 
frequently  summoned  to  the  strange  discipline  of  repressing  the  move- 
ments of  Christian  charity ;  and  the  practice  of  quenching  the  Spirit, 
instead  of  being  regarded  with  horror,  will  become  on  many  occasions 
an  ir  disnensable  duty.     For  this  new  and  unheard-of  conflict,  in  which 

X2 


324  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

the  injunctions  of  Christ,  ami  the  (hciatos  of  his  Spirit,  propel  ii3  in 
opposite  diriH'tions,  we  arknowledge  ourselvTs  iinproparod. 

In  order  to  place  this  part  of  our  subject  in  its  strongest  light,  it  h 
neeessary  to  recur  to  what  we  have  suggested  before,  respecting  the 
iwofolil  injport  of  the  Eucharist,  that  it  is  first  a  feast  upon  a  sacrifice, 
in  which  we  are  actual  partakers  by  faith  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the 
Redeemer  offered  upon  the  cross.  Considered  in  this  view,  it  is  a 
fcilcn/l  rite,  in  which  we  receive  the  pledge  of  reconciliation,  while  we 
avouch  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and  surround  his  table  as  a  part  of  his 
family.  In  its  secondary  import,  it  is  intended  as  a  solemn  recognition 
of  each  other  as  members  of  Christ,  and  consequently,  in  the  language 
of  St.  Paul,  "  as  one  body,  and  one  bread."  Now  we  either  acknowledge 
Pedobaptists  to  be  Christians,  or  we  do  not.  If  not,  let  us  speak  out 
without  reserve,  and  justify  their  exclusion  at  once,  upon  a  broad  and 
consistent  basis.  But  if  we  reject  a  sentiment  so  illiberal,  why  refuse 
to  unite  with  them  in  an  appointment  which,  as  far  as  its  social  import 
is  concerned,  has  no  other  object  than  to  express  that  fraternal  attach- 
ment wliich  we  actually  feel  ?  Why  select  as  the  line  of  demarkaiion, 
the  signal  of  disunion,  that  particular  branch  of  worship  which,  if  we 
credit  the  inspired  writers,  was  ordained,  in  preference  to  every  other, 
to  be  the  symbol  of  Christian  unity  1  That  they  are  equally  capable 
with  ourselves  of  deriving  the  spiritual  edification  and  improvement 
attached  to  this  ordinance  is  implied  in  the  acknowledgment  of  their 
being  Christians  ;  while  with  respect  to  its  import  as  a  social  act,  or  an 
act  of  communion,  it  impUes  nehher  more  nor  less  than  a  recognition 
of  their  claim  to  that  title.  It  nehher  implies  that  they  are  baptized, 
nor  the  contrary ;  it  has  no  retrospective  view  to  that  ordinance  what- 
ever ;  it  implies  neither  more  nor  less  than  that  they  are  members  of 
Christ,  and  the  objects,  consequently,  of  that  fraternal  attachment  which 
our  opponents  themselves  profess  to  feel. 


SECTION   II. 

The  Practice  of  open  Communion  argued,  from  the  express  Injunction 
of  Scripture  respecting  the  Conduct  to  he  maintained  by  sincere 
Christians  who  differ  in  their  Religious  Sentiments. 

We  are  expressly  commanded  in  the  Scriptures  to  tolerate  in  the 
church  those  diversities  of  opinion  which  are  not  inconsistent  with 
salvation.  We  learn  from  the  New  Testament  that  a  diversity  of 
views  subsisted  in  the  times  of  the  apostles  between  the  Jewish  and 
gentile  converts  especially — the  former  retaining  an  attachment  to  the 
ancient  law,  and  conceiving  the  most  essential  parts  of  it  to  be  still  in 
force  ;  the  latter,  from  correcter  views,  rejecting  it  altogether.  Some 
declined  the  use  of  certain  kinds  of  meat  forbidden  by  Moses,  which 
others  partook  of  without  scruple  ;  "one  man  esteemed  one  day  above 
another,"  conscientiously  observing  the  principal  .Jewish  solemnities  ; 
"another  esteemed   every  day  alike."     Among  the  Jewish  converts 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  32fl 

very  different  sentimeHts  were  entertained  on  the  subject  of  circiuncision, 
which  all  appear  to  have  observed,  though  upon  different  principles  ; 
the  more  enlightened,  like  St.  Paul,  from  a  solicitude  to  avoid  uime- 
cessary  offence;  the  more  superstitious,  from  persuasion  of  its  intrinsic 
obligation ;  and  some  because  they  believed  it  impossible  to  be  saved 
without  it;  by  which  they  endangered,  to  say  the  least,  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  Against  the  sentiment  last 
mentioned  we  find  St.  Paul  protesting  with  vehemence,  and  affirming, 
with  all  the  authority  of  his  office,  that  "if  any  man  was  circumcised" 
with  such  views,  Christ  "  profited  him  nothing ;"  but  on  no  occasion 
proceeding  to  excommunication.  The  contention  arising  from  the  dis- 
cussion of  these  points  became  so  violent,  that  there  appeared  no 
method  of  terminating  it  but  to  depute  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  go  up  to 
Jerusalem  to  consult  the  apostles,  who,  being  solemnly  convened  on 
theoccasion,  jssued  the  famous  decree  contained  in  the  fifteenth  of  the 
■  Acts,  by  which  the  liberty  of  the  gospel  was  confirmed,  and  the  domi- 
neering spirit  of  Jewish  zealots  repressed.  Though  the  success  of 
this  measure  was  great,  it  was  not  complete  ;  a  contrariety  of  opinion 
and  of  practice  prevailed  in  the  church  respecting  Jewish  ceremonies 
and  observances,  which  considerably  impaired  its  harmony.  But 
instead  of  attempting  to  silence  the  remaining  differences  by  interposing 
his  authority,  St.  Paul  enjoins  mutual  toleration.  "  Him  that  is  weak 
in  faith  receive  ye,  not  to  doubtful  disputations.  For  one  believeth 
that  he  may  eat  all  things  ;  another  who  is  weak  eateth  herbs.  Let 
not  him  that  eateth  despise  him  that  eateth  not;  and  let  not  him  that 
eateth  not  judge  him  that  eateth  ;  for  God  hath  received  him.  Who 
art  thou  that  judgest  another  man's  servant  ?  unto  his  own  master  he 
standeth  or  falleth.  Yea,  he  shall  be  holden  up  ;  for  God  is  able  to 
make  him  stand.  One  man  esteemeth  every  day  alike.  Let  every 
man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind."* 

To  ,the  same  purpose  are  the  following  injunctions  in  the  next 
chapter : — "  We  then  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of 
the  weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves.  Now  the  God  of  peace  and 
consolation  grant  you  to  be  like-minded  one  towards  another,  according 
to  Jesus  Christ  that  ye  may  with  one  mind  and  with  one  mouth 
glorify  God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Wherefore 
receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ  also  received  us,  to  the  glory  of  God."t 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  passages  we  have  adduced  contain  an 
apostolic  canon  for  the  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  such  Christians  as 
agree  in  fundamentals,  while  they  differ  on  points  of  subordinate  im- 
portance :  by  this  canon  they  are  commanded  to  exercise  a  reciprocal 
toleration  and  indulgence,  and  on  no  account  to  proceed  to  an  open 
rupture.  Li  order  to  apply  it  to  the  question  under  consideration,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  consider  to  what  description  of  persons  the  rule 
extends.  The  persons  we  are  commanded  to  receive  are  the  weak  in 
faith.  From  the  context,  as  well  as  from  other  parts  of  his  epistles, 
it  is  certain  that  St.  Paul  means  to  designate  by  that  appellation 
sincere  though  erring  Christians  ;  and  in  the  instance  then  under  con- 

*  Rom.  xiv.  1—5  t  Rom.  xv.  1.  6,  7 


yoo  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

tpinplatioii,  persons  whose  orgiins  were  not  yet  attempered  to  tlio  blaze 
of  fiospel  liijhl  and  liberty,  but  wlio  still  cluno-  to  certain  legal  usages 
and  distinctions,  whii-li  more  eoinpn'liensive  views  of  revelation  would 
have  taught  iheni  to  discard.  'I'lie  term  iccak  is  employed  by  the 
same  writer  in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  to  denote  an  erroneous 
conscience,  founded  on  a  false  persuasion  of  a  certain  power  and 
efficacy  attached  to  idols,  of  which  they  are  really  destitute.  "  For 
himself,"  he  tells  us,  "  he  knew  that  an  idol  was  nothing,  but  every 
one  was  not  possessed  of  that  knowledge ;  for  some  with  con- 
science of  the  idol,  with  an  interior  conviction  of  its  power,  eat  of  the 
sacrifice,  as  a  thing  offered  to  an  idol,  and  their  conscience,  being  weak, 
is  defiled."  In  the  chapter  whence  these  words  are  quoted  the  term 
weak  occurs  not  less  than  five  times,  and  in  each  instance  is  used  as 
synonymous  with  erroneous.  I  have  insisted  the  more  on  this  particular 
in  order  to  obviate  a  misconception  which  may  aris^  from  the  ac- 
knowledged ambiguity  of  the  word  u-eak,  which  might  be  supposed 
to  intend,  not  a  mistaken  or  erring  mind,  but  a  mind  not  sufficiently 
confirmed  in  the  truth  to  which  it  assents.  The  certainty  of  its  com- 
prehending the  case  of  error'  being  once  admitted,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  multiply  words  to  evince  its  bearing  on  the  present  controversy ;  all 
that  remains  to  be  considered  is  the  principle  on  which  toleration  is 
enforced,  w'hich  every  impartial  reader  must  perceive  is  the  assumption 
that  the  errors  and  mistakes  to  be  tolerated  are  not  fundamentaJ,  not 
of  such  a  nature,  in  other  woixls,  as  to  prevent  those  who  maintain 
them  from  being  accepted  with  God.  "  Let  not  him  that  eateth 
despise  him  that  eateth  not ;  and  let  not  him  which  eateth  not  judge 
him  that  eateth  ;  for  God  hath  received  him.''''  What  can  this  mean  but 
that  the  error  in  question,  to  whichsoever  side  it  be  imputed,  was  of  a 
description  not  to  exclude  its  abetter  from  being  an  accepted  servant 
of  God,  who,  as  he  at  present  bears  with  his  infirmity,  is  well  able, 
whenever  he  pleases,  to  correct  and  remove  it  ?  He  further  proceeds 
to  urge  a  spirit  of  forbearance  from  a  consideration  of  the  perfect 
integrity  with  which  both  parties  maintained  their  respective  opinions. 
Both  were  equally  conscientious,  and  therefore  neither  deserved  to  be 
treated  with  severity.  "Wherefore  receive  ye  one  another,"  he  adds, 
"  even  as  Christ  has  received  you  to  the  glory  of  the  Father."  When 
he  thus  commands  Christians  to  receive  each  other,  and  enforces  that 
duty  by  the  example  of  Christ,  it  surely  requires  little  penetration  to 
perceive  that  the  practice  enjoined  ought  to  be  commensurate  to  that 
example,  and  that  this  precept  obliges  us  to  receive  all  whom  Christ 
has  received.  To  interpret  it  otherwise  is  to  suppose  the  example 
irrelevant,  and  at  once  to  annihilate  the  principle  on  which  the  injunc- 
tion is  founded. 

Having  paved  the  way  to  the  conclusion  to  which  we  would  conduct 
the  reader,  we  have  only  to  remark,  that  in  order  to  determine  how  far 
these  apostolic  injunctions  oblige  us  to  tolerate  the  supposed  error  of 
our  Pedobaptist  brethren,  we  have  merely  to  consider  whether  it  ne- 
cessarily excludes  them  from  being  of  the  number  of  those  whom 
Christ  has  received  to  the  glory  of  the  Father,  whether  it  be  possible 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  337 

to  hold  it  with  Christian  sincerity,  and  finally,  whether  its  abetters  will 
stand  or  lall  in  the  eternal  judgment. 

If  these  questions  are  answered  in  the  way  which  Christian  candoui 
irresistibly  suggests,  and  which  the  judgment  of  our  opponents  ap- 
proves, they  conclude  in  favour  of  the  admission  of  Pedobaplists  to 
communion,  not  less  forcibly  than  if  they  had  been  mentioned  by 
name  ;  and  all  attempts  to  evade  them  must  prove  futile  and  abortive. 
If  it  be  asserted,  on  the  contrary,  that  a  mistake  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism is  not  comprehended  in  the  above  description,  the  passages  adduced 
must  be  acknowledged  irrelevant,  and  the  whole  controversy  assumes 
a  new  aspect. 

In  the  same  spirit  the  apostle  earnestly  presses  on  the  Philippians 
the  obligation  of  maintaining  an  uninterrupted  harmony,  and  of  culti- 
vating a  fraternal  affection  to  each  other,  even  while  he  is  contemplating 
the  possibility  of  their  entertaining  difl^erent  apprehensions  respecting 
truth  and  duty.  After  proposing  himself  as  an  example  of  the  renun- 
ciation of  legal  hopes,  and  the  serious  study  of  perfection,  he  adds, 
"  Let  us,  therefore,  as  many  as  are  perfect,  as  many  as  have  obtained 
correct  and  enlarged  views  of  the  gospel,  be  thus  minded  ;  and  if  in  any 
thmg  we  are  otherwise  minded,  or  rather  differently  minded,  possessing 
different  views  and  apprehensions  on  certain  subjects,  God  will  reveal 
this  even  unto  you.*  Nevertheless,  wherein  we  have  already  attained, 
let  us  walk  by  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing."  Here  the 
case  of  a  diversity  of  sentiment  arising  among  Christians  is  distinctly 
assumed,  and  the  proper  remedy  suggested,  which  is  not  the  exercise 
of  a  compulsory  power,  much  less  a  separation  of  communion,  but  the 
ardent  pursuit  of  Christian  piety,  accompanied  with  an  humble  depend- 
,  ence  on  divine  teaching,  which,  it  may  reasonably  be  expected,  will  in 
due  time  correct  the  errors  and  imperfections  of  sincere  believers. 
The  conduct  to  be  maintained  in  the  mean  while  was  a  cordial  co- 
operation in  every  branch  of  worship  and  of  practice,  with  respect  to 
which  they  were  agreed,  without  attempting  to  effect  a  unanimity  by 
force ;  and  this  is  precisely  the  cond'uct  which  we  contend  should  be 
maintained  towards  our  Pedobaptist  brethren.  If  they  can  be  repelled 
from  the  Lord's  table  without  violating  both  the  letter  and  the  spirit 
of  the  preceding  and  of  similar  admonitions,  we  are  prepared,  however 
reluctantly,  to  acquiesce  in  their  exclusion  ;  but  if  they  cannot,  it  de- 
serves the  serious  consideration  of  the  advocates  of  that  measure,  how 
they  can  reconcile  the  palpable  infringement  of  such  precepts  with  the 
scrupulous  adherence  to  the  dictates  of  Scripture  to  which  they  make 
such  loud  pretensions. 

It  will  surely  not  be  denied  that  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  are 
entitled  to  at  least  as  much  reverence  as  apostolical  precedents,  when 
it  is  remembered  that  the  language  of  the  former,  as  is  befitting  laws, 
is  clear  and  determinate,  while  inferences  deduced  from  the  latter  are 
frequently  subject  to  debate  ;  not  to  remark,  that  if  we  consider  the 
spirit  of  Scripture  precedent,  it  will  be  found  entirely  in  our  favour. 

*  See  »n  admirable  criticism  on  this  passage  in  Bishop  Horsley's  Sermons,  where  the  word  trtpuf, 
Which  is  the  key  to  the  whole  passage,  is  most  happily  elucidated. — Vol.  ii.  p.  358. 


32^  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

AVhen  the  abetters  of  exclusive  communion  are  pressed  with  tn 
conrhisioiis  resuhing  from  the  passages  we  have  quoted,  and  others  ol 
a  siniihir  tcndeucv,  their  usual  answer  is,  that  tlic  inspired  writers  niakt 
no  nuMition  of  baptism  on  these  occasions,  and  that  no  allusion  is  had 
to  a  divcrsitv  of  opinion  on  the  positive  institutions  of  the  gospel ; 
wliich  is  iierffctly  true,  and  perfectly  foreign  to  the  purpose  for  which 
it  is  alleged;  for  the  question  at  issue  is  not.  What  were  the  individual 
errors  we  are  commanded  to  tolerate  ;  but.  What  is  the  ground  on 
whicli  that  measure  is  enforced,  and  whether  it  be  sufHciently  compre- 
hensive to  include  the  Pedobaptists  ?  That  it  is  so,  that  they  are 
actually  included,  can  only  be  denied  by  affirming  that  they  are  pre- 
cluded from  divine  acceptance,  since  it  is  precisely  on  that  ground  that 
St.  Paul  rests  the  plea  of  toleration.  To  object  to  the  application  of  a 
general  principle  to  a  particular  case,  that  it  is  not  the  identical  one 
whicli  lirst  occasioned  its  enunciation,  is  egregious  trifling,  and  would 
go  to  the  subversion  of  all  general  principles  whatever,  and  consequently 
put  an  end  to  all  reasoning.  When  a  doubtful  point  in  morality  is  to 
be  decided  by  an  appeal  to  a  general  principle,  it  is  an  essential  prop- 
erty of  such  a  principle  to  extend  to  more  particulars  than  one  ;  since, 
if  it  did  not,  it  would  cease  to  be  a  principle,  and  the  point  in  question 
would  be  left  to  be  decided  by  itself;  and  if  not  self-evident,  could 
admit  of  no  decision  whatever.  When  Nadab  and  Abihu,  intoxicated 
with  wine,  offered  strange  fire  upon  the  altar,  and  were  struck  with 
instant  death  for  their  presumption,  Moses,  by  Divine  command,  pre- 
scribed the  following  general  rule  for  the  worship  of  God :  "  I  will  be 
sanctified  of  all  them  that  draw  nigh  unto  me,  and  before  all  the  people 
will  I  be  glorified."  Who  can  be  at  a  loss  to  perceive  the  absurdity 
of  limiting  that  precept  to  the  prohibition  of  intoxication,  the  crime 
which  occasioned  its  first  promulgation,  instead  of  extending  it  to  every 
instance  of  levity  and  impiety  in  an  approach  to  the  Divine  Majesty  ? 
My  consciousness  of  the  extreme  weight  of  prejudice  which  the  truth 
has  to  encounter,  together  with  the  inaptitude  of  many  who  are  most 
interested  in  this  controversy  to  ascend  to  first  principles,  is  my  only 
apology  for  insisting  upon  a  point  so  obvious  ;  choosing  rather  to  hazard 
the  contempt  of  the  wise  than  not  to  impress  conviction  on  the 
vulgar. 

With  such  as  admit  the  possibility  of  Pedobaptists  being  saved 
there  remains,  in  my  apprehe^ision,  no  alternative,  but  either  to  receive 
them  into  their  communion  without  scruple,  as  comprehended  within 
the  apostolic  canon,  or  to  affirm  that  decision  to  be  founded  on  erroneous 
grounds ;  wdiich  at  once  removes  the  controversy  to  a  superior  tribunal, 
where  they  and  the  apostle  must  implead  each  other.  Let  us,  however, 
briefly  examine  certain  distinctions  they  have  recourse  to,  in  order  to 
elude  the  force  of  these  passages.  In  the  first  place,  it  has  been 
alleged,  that  though  we  are  commanded  to  receive  our  mistaken 
brethren,  we  are  not  instructed  to  receive  them  at  the  Lord's  table,  or 
into  the  external  communion  of  the  church ;  and  that  such  injunctions 
are,  consequently,  irrelevant  to  the  inquiry  respecting  the  right  of  persons 
of  a  similar  character  to  those  external  privileges  of  which  they  make 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  329 

no  mention.  "  Is  tliere  no  way,"  say  our  opponents,  "  of  receiving  him 
that  is  weak  in  faith,  but  by  admitting  him  to  the  Lord's  table  1  Must 
the  exhortation  to  receive  a  Christian  brother  be  confined  to  that  shigle 
in:;tance  of  true  benevolence  ?"*  To  this  we  reply,  that  we  know  of 
none  who  assert  that  the  term  remuc  must  necessarily  be  limited  to  the 
single  act  of  a  reception  at  the  Lord's  table ;  but  we  affirm,  without 
hesitation,  that  he  is  not  received  in  the  sense  of  the  apostle  who  is 
denied  that  privilege.  Had  the  parties  whom  he  addressed  proceeded 
to  an  open  rupture  in  point  of  communion,  would  they,  in  the  judgment 
of  our  opponents,  have  complied  with  the  purport  and  spirit  of  his 
injunction  ?  And  if,  after  adopting  such  a  measure,  they  had  appealed 
to  the  apostle,  whether  there  "were  no  other  way  of  receiving  their 
brethren  but  by  admitting  them  to  the  Lord's  table,"  would  he,  or  would 
he  not,  have  considered  himself  as  mocked  and  insulted  ?  Mr.  Booth 
ejnumerates  many  instances  m  St.  Paul's  epistles,  in  which  he  enjoins 
Christians  to  receive  certain  persons,  such  as  Phoebe,  Onesimus,  Epaph- 
roditus,  and  himself,  where  an  admission  to  the  Lord's  table  was  not 
intended,  but  something  which  he  informs  us  would  manifest  their  love 
in  a  much  higher  degree. f  What  a  convincing  demonstration  of  the 
propriety  of  withholding  from  persons  of  a  similar  character  that  lower, 
that  inferior  token  of  esteem  which  is  included  in  Christian  fellowship  ! 
And  because  the  bare  admission  of  all  the  persons  mentioned  to  the 
external  communion  of  the  church  did  not  satisfy  the  ardent  benevo- 
lence of  the  apostle,  without  more  decided  and  discriminate  marks  of 
attachment,  nor  answer,  in  the  opinion  of  our  opponents,  to  the  full 
import  of  the  word  receive,  the  true  method  of  realizing  his  intentions 
is  to  reject  the  modern  Phoebe  and  Onesimus  altogether. 

"  Supposing,  however,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "  that  there  were  no  way  of 
receiving  one  that  is  weak  in  faith  but  by  admitting  him  to  the  Lord's 
table,  this  text  would  be  far  from  proving  that  which  our  opponents 
desire ;  unless  they  could  make  it  appear,  that  the  persons  of  whom 
the  apostle  immediately  speaks  were  not  members  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  when  he  gave  the  advice."|  If  there  be  any  weight  in  this 
argument,  it  must  proceed  on  the  supposition  that  if  the  persons  whom 
the  apostle  enjoins  the  Romans  to  receive  had  not  been  already  mem- 
bers, there  is  no  sufficient  ground  for  believing,  notwithstanding  the 
strain  of  his  admonitions,  that  they  would  have  been  admitted.  But 
is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  he  would  have  recommended  a  class  of 
persons  so  earnestly  to  the  affectionate  regards  of  a  Christian  society 
whom  he  would  not  have  previously  deemed  eligible  to  their  com- 
munion ;  or  that  the  primitive  discipline  was  so  soon  relaxed  as  to 
occasion  the  continuance  in  the  church  of  such  as  would  have  been 
originally  deemed  unworthy  candidates  ?  Most  assuredly  they  who, 
upon  valid  grounds,  would  have  been  rejected  if  they  had  not  already 
been  members,  were  never  permitted  to  boast  the  protection  and  patron- 
age of  an  inspired  apostle  after  they  became  such.  In  every  well- 
ordered  society,  the  privileges  attached  to  it  are  forfeited  by  that  conduct 

*  Booth's  Apology,  p.  101  t  Ibid,  p  102.  i  Ibid.  p.  83. 


330  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

in  its  members,  whatever  it  be,  which  woukl  liave  been  an  eflettual 
obstacle  to  tlu-ir  admission ;  and  to  suppose  this  maxim  reversed  in  a 
Christian  church,  and  that  an  apostle  would  caress,  protect,  and  com- 
mend persons  who  miglit  justly  have  been  debarred  from  entering,  is 
an  absurility  which  few  minds  can  digest.  The  necessity  of  recurring 
to  such  suppositions  is  itself  a  sufficient  confutation  of  the  system 
thev  are  brought  to  defend. 

Our  opponents  still  insist  upon  it,  that  no  conclusion  can  be  drawn 
from  tlie  command  to  receive  the  loeak  in  faith,  unless  it  could  be  shown 
that  they  were  unbaptized.  But  this  mode  of  reasoning,  pursued  to  its 
consequences,  would  annihilate  all  the  general  axioms  of  Scripture,* 
and,  considering  the  infinite  diversity  of  human  circumstances,  render 
them  a  most  incompetent  guide.  If  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been  pleased 
to  command  us,  without  exception,  to  receive  the  weak  in  faith,  and 
instructed  us  in  the  grounds  on  which  his  decision  proceeded,  which  is 
plainly  the  acceptance  of  such  with  God, — if  the  apostles  acting  under 
his  direction  governed  the  church  on  the  same  principles,  and  suffered 
no  breach  of  communion  to  be  effected,  but  on  account  of  a  vicious  life, 
or  fundamental  error,  the  criminality  attached  to  an  opposite  course  of 
procedure  will  be  very  little  extenuated  by  a  circumstantial  difference 
in  its  objects.  Had  those  whom  the  apostles  commanded  their  converts 
to  tolerate  been  unbaptized,  the  inference  in  favour  of  Pedobaptists 
would  unquestionably  have  been  more  obvious,  but  not  more  certain, 
because  nothing  can  be  more  evident  than  that  they  urged  the  duty  of 
toleration  on  a  principle  which,  even  in  the  judgment  of  our  opponents, 
equally  applies  to  the  Pedobaptists,  which  is,  that  the  error  in  each  case 
is  compatible  with  a  state  of  salvation,  and  may  be  held  with  an 
upright  conscience. 

However  systems  and  opinions  may  fluctuate,  truth  is  eternal ;  and 
if  these  were  solid  grounds  of  mutual  forbearance  and  indulgence  here- 
tofore, they  must  still  continue  such ;  but  if  they  were  not,  St.  Paul 
must  be  acknowledged  to  have  reasoned  inconclusively,  and  all  idea  of 
plenary  inspiration  must  be  abandoned.  As  the  case  stands,  the  advo- 
cates of  exclusive  communion  must  either  assert,  in  direct  contradiction 
to  his  statement,  that  the  compatibility  of  an  error  with  the  state  of 
salvation,  and  with  what  comes  nearly  to  the  same  point  the  perfect 
sincerity  of  its  abetter,  is  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  its  being  tolerated 
m  the  church,  or  consign  the  Pedobaptists  who  die  in  their  sentiments, 
to  eternal  destruction.  In  this  dilemma,  they  are  at  liberty  to  adopt 
which  position-  they  please,  but  from  both  it  is  impossible  to  escape. 

In  order,  as  it  should  seem,  to  perplex  the  mind  of  the  reader  on  this 
part  of  the  subject,  our  opponents  endeavour  to  confound  that  interpo- 
sition of  mercy  by  which  impenitent  sinners  are  introduced  into  a  state 
of  salvation  with  the  gracious  acceptance  of  believers.f 

*  "  But  admitting  that  to  be  a  fact,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "of  which  there  is  not  the  least  evidence,  (Tie 
conclusion  drawn  from  the  passage  would  not  be  just,  except  it  were  also  i)roved  that  the  weak  in 
faith  were  unbaptized,  or  at  least  so  considered  by  their  stronger  brethren,  for  Ihst  is  the  point  in 
dispute  between  us." — Booths  Apalngy,  p.  104. 

t  "  Yet  permit  me  to  ask,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "  is  the  Divme  conduct,  is  the  favour  of  God,  or  the 
kindness  of  Christ  in  receiving  sinners  the  rule  of  our  proceeding  m  the  administration  of  positive 


TERMS   OF  COMMUNION.  331 

With  this  view  we  are  reminded  that  God  receives  s«ch  as  are  dead 
m  sins.  Whether  it  be  safe  to  assert  that  God  accepts  the  impenitent 
at  all  while  their  impenitence  continues,  I  shall  not  stay  to  inquire :  it 
is  certain  they  are  not  received  in  the  same  sense  as  genuine  Christians, 
nor  in  the  sense  the  apostle  intended  when  he  enjoined  forbearance 
towards  the  iveak  in  faith.  That  Christ  receives  men  in  their  sins,  so 
as  to  adopt  them  into  his  family,  and  make  them  heirs  of  eternal  life,  is 
a  doctrine  offensive  to  pious  ears,  most  remote  from  the  language  of 
Scripture,  and  from  all  sober  theology.  But  if  they  intend  something 
essentially  distinct  from  this,  for  what  purpose  it  is  introduced,  except 
with  a  view  to  shelter  themselves  under  the  cover  of  an  ambiguous 
term,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  conjecture.  In  the  mean  time,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  design  of  these  contortions  is  to  get  rid,  if  possible,  of  a  principle 
which  originated  not  with  us,  but  with  St.  Paul,  that  we  ought  to  accept 
those  whom  we  acknowledge  Christ  to  have  accepted.  This  is  still 
more  evident  when  we  find  them  adducing  the  excommunication  of 
unworthy  members,  such  as  the  incestuous  man  at  Corinth,  who,  it  is 
asserted,  was  all  along  an  object  of  Divine  favour,  as  a  proof  that  the 
rule  which  that  inspired  writer  has  laid  down  may  be  safely  neglected. 
In  reply  to  which,  it  is  sufficient  to  ask — In  what  light  was  the  inces- 
tuous person  regarded,*  when  he  declared  his  determmation  to  deliver 
him  to  Satan  for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh  ?  Was  it  under  the  char- 
acter of  a  member  of  Christ,  or  an  enemy  to  the  gospel?  If  we 
believe  his  own  representation,  he  deemed  it  necessary  for  him  to  be 
expelled  as  an  infectious  leaven,'  the  continuance  of  which  would 
corrupt  the  whole  mass  ;  so  that  whatever  proofs  of  repentance  he 
might  afterward  exhibit,  these  could  have  no  influence  on  the  principle 
on  which  he  was  excluded.  When  the  professors  of  Christianity  are 
guilty  of  deliberate  violation  of  the  laws  of  Christ, .  they  are  to  be 
treated  agreeably  to  the  conduct  they  exhibit,  as  bad  men,  with  a  hope 
that  the  severity  of  discipline  may  reclaim  and  restore  them  to  the  paths 
of  rectitude. 

To  justify  the  practice  of  exclusive  communion,  by  placing  Pedo- 
baptists,  wlio  form  the  great  body  of  the  faithful,  on  the  same  level 
with  men  of  impure  and  vicious  lives,  is  equally  repugnant  to  reason 
and  offensive  to  charity ;  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  manifest  from  this 
mode  of  reasoning,  that  the  measure  contended  for  is  considered  in  the 
liglit  of  punishment.  Whether  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  are  the  proper 
objects  of  it,  or  whether  it  is  adopted  to  promote  the  only  legitimate 
ends  of  punishment,  must  be  left  to  future  inquiry. 

institutions  ?  WTiom  does  God,  whom  does  Christ  receive '  None  but  those  who  believe  and  profess 
faith  in  the  Lord  Messiah?  Our  brethren  will  not  affirm  it.  For  if  Divine  compassion  did  not 
extend  to  the  dead  in  sin  ;  if  the  kindness  of  Christ  did  not  relieve  the  enemies  of  God,  none  of  our 
fellow-race  would  ever  be  saved.  Hut  does  it  hence  follow  that  we  must  admit  the  unbelieving,  or 
the  unconverted,  either  to  baptism  or  the  Holy  Supper?  Our  gracious  Lord  freely  accepts  all  that 
desire  it,  and  all  that  come,  l)Ut  are  we  bound  to  receive  every  one  that  solicits  communion  with  us?" 
■Booth's  A-pology,  p.  106. 

*  '  Besides,  gospel  churches,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "are  sometimes  obliged  to  exclude  from  iheir  com- 
munion those  whom  he  has  rcceiveii,  as  ap)iears  fVom  the  ease  of  the  incestuous  person  in  the  church 
of  Corinth  And  have  those  churches  which  practise  free  communion  ne\er  excluded  any  for  scan 
dalous  backslidings  whom,  notwithstanding,  they  could  not  but  consider  as  received  of  Christ?"— 
Booth's  Apology,  ^.WQ. 


332  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 


SECTION  III. 

Pedohaptists  a  Part  of  the  true  C/narh,  and  their  Exclusion  on  that 
account  unlau-ful. 

Btforc  we  proceed  to  urge  the  argument  announoed  in  tliis  section, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  ascertain  the  precise  import  of  the  word  church 
as  it  is  employ(!d  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  If  we  examine  the  New 
Testament,  we  sliall  find  tluit  the  term  church  as  a  religious  appel- 
lation occurs  in  two  senses  only ;  it  either  denotes  the  whole  body  of 
the  faithful,  or  some  one  assembly  of  Christians  associated  for  the 
worship  of  God.  In  the  former  sense,  it  is  styled  in  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  catholic,  or  universal  ;  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  which  forms 
one  of  its  principal  articles.  In  this  sense,  Jesus  Christ  is  affirmed  to 
be  "  Head  over  all  things  to  the  church,  which  is  his  body."  It  is  in 
this  collective  view  of  it  that  we  affirm  its  perpetuity.  When  the  term 
is  employed  to  denote  a  particular  assembly  of  Christians,  it  is  invariably 
accompanied  with  a  specification  of  tlie  place  where  it  was  accustomed 
to  convene,  as,  for  example,  the  church  at  Corinth,  at  Ephesus,  or  at 
Rome.  Now  it  is  manifest  from  Scripture,  that  these  two  significations 
of  the  word  differ  from  each  other  only  as  a  part  differs  from  a  whole, 
so  that  when  the  whole  body  of  believers  is  intended,  it  is  used  in  its 
absolute  form  ;  when  a  particular  society  is  meant,  it  is  joined  with  a 
local  specification.  It  is  never  used  in  the  New  Testament,  as  in 
modern  times,  to  denote  the  aggregate  of  Christian  assemblies 
throughout  a  province,  or  a  kingdom ;  nor  do  we  ever  read  of  the 
church  of  Achaia,  Galatia,  &c.,  but  of  the  churches,  in  the  plural 
number  ;  the  word  being  constantly  applied  either  to  the  whole  number 
of  the  faithful  scattered  throughout  the  world,  or  to  some  single  congre- 
gation or  society.  It  is  equally  obvious  that  whenever  the  word  church 
occurs  in  its  absolute  form,  it  comprehends  all  genuine  Christians 
without  exception,  and  as  thai  church  is  affirmed  to  be  his  body,  it 
could  not  enter  into  the  conception  of  the  inspired  writers  that  there 
were  a  class  of  persons  strictly  united  to  Christ,  who  yet  were  none 
of  its  component  parts. 

By  orthodox  Christians  it  is  uniformly  maintained  that  union  to 
Christ  is  formed  by  faith,  and  as  the  Baptists  are  distinguished  by 
demanding  a  profession  of  it  at  baptism,  they  at  least  are  precluded 
from  asserting  that  rite  to  have  any  concern  in  effecting  the  spiritual 
alliance  in  question.  In  their  judgment  at  least,  since  faith  precedes 
the  application  of  water,  the  only  means  of  union  are  possessed  by  the 
abetters  of  infant-sprinkling  equally  with  themselves  ;  who  are  there- 
fore equally  of  the  "  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particular."  But 
since  the  Holv  Ghost  identifies  that  body  with  the  church,  explaining 
the  one  by  the  other  ("  for  his  body's  sake,  which  is  the  church"),  it 
seems  impossible  to  deny  that  they  are  fully  entitled  to  be  considered, 
m  the  catholic  sense  of  the  term,  as  members  of  the  Christian  church 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  333 

\nd  as  the  universal  church  is  nothing  more  tlian  the  collect;  le  body 
3f  the  faithful,  and  differs  only  from  a  particular  assembly  of  Christians, 
as  the  whole  from  a  part,  it  is  equally  impossible  to  deny  that  a  Pedo- 
baptist  society  is,  in  the  more  limited  import  of  the  word,  a  true  church. 
If  we  consider  the  matter  in  a  light  somewhat  different,  we  shall  be 
conducted  to  the  same  conclusion,  and  be  compelled  to  confess  that 
Pedobaptist  societies  are,  or  at  least  maybe,  notwithstanding  the  prac- 
tice of  iniant-sprinkling,  true  churches.  The  idea  of  plurality,  it  will 
be  admitted,  adds  nothing  to  the  nature  of  the  object  to  which  it  is 
attached.  The  idea  of  a  number  of  men  differs  nothing  in  kind  from 
that  of  a  single  man,  except  that  it  involves  a  repetition  or  multipli- 
cation of  the  same  idea.  But  the  term  church  is  merely  a  numerical 
tfirm,  denoting  a  multitude,  or  an  assembly  of  men ;  and  for  the  same 
reason  that  a  number  of  men  meeting  together  constitutes  an  assembly, 
or  church  *  in  the  most  comprehensive  import  of  the  word,  so  a  number 
of  Christians  convened  for  the  worship  of  God  constitutes  a  Christian 
assembly,  or  a  church.  Such  an  assembly  will  necessarily  be  modified 
by  the  character  of  the  members  which  compose  it ;  if  their  sentiments- 
are  erroneous,  the  church  will  proportionably  imbibe  a  tincture  of  error; 
but  to  affirm,  that  though  it  consists  of  real  Christians,  a  society  of 
such  assembled  for  Christian  worship  is  not  a  true  church,  is  to  attrib- 
ute to  the  idea  of  plumlity  or  of  number  the  power  of  changing  the 
nature  or  essence  of  the  object  with  which  it  is  united,  which  involves 
a  contradiction  to  our  clearest  perceptions.  If  we  adhere  to  the  dictates 
of  reason  or  of  Scripture  when  we  give  the  appellation  of  a  church  tc 
a  partictilar  society  of  Christians,  we  shall  mingle  nothing  in  our  con- 
ceptions beyond  what  enters  into  our  ideas  of  an  individual  Christian, 
with  the  exception  of  this  circumstance  only,  that  it  denotes  a  number 
of  such  individuals  actually  assembled,  or  wont  to  assemble,  for  the  cele- 
bration of  Divine  worship.  Though  the  definition  of  a  church  has  often 
been  the  occasion  of  much  confused  disquisition,  especially  when  tlie  term 
had  been  applied  exclusively  to  the- clergy,  the  Baptists,  I  believe,  are 
the  only  persons  who  have  scrupled  to  assign  that  appellation  to  societies 
acknowledged  to  consist  of  sincere  and  spiritual  worshippers  :  a  notion 
which,  however  repugnant  to  the  dictates  of  candour,  or  of  common 
sense,  is  the  necessary  appendage  of  the  practice,  equally  absurd,  of 
confining  their  communion  to  their  own  denomination. 

Having  shown,  we  trust  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  reader,  that  Pedo- 
baptism  is  not  an  error  of  such  magnitude  as  to  prevent  the  society 
which  maintains  it  from  being  deemed  a  true  church,  I  proceed  tc 
observe,  that  to  repel  the  members  of  such  a  society  from  communion 
is  the  very  essence  of  schism.  Schism  is  a  causeless  and  unnecessary 
separation  from  the  church  of  Christ,  or  from  any  part  of  it  ;  and  that 
secession  cannot  urge  the  plea  of  necessity  where  no  concurrence  in 
what  is  deemed  evil,  no  approbation  of  error  or  superstition,  is  involved 
m  communion.  In  the  case  before  us,  by  admitting  a  Pedobaptist  to 
the  Lord's  Supper,  no  sanction  whatever  is  given  to  infant-sprinkling,  no 

*  Acts  xU.  32.—"  For  the  assembly  was  confused."    The  original  is  ^  iKKkncia,  the  term  usually 
rendered  church 


334  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

act  of  concurrence  is  involved  or  implied  ;  nothing  is  done,  or  lefl 
undone,  whicli  would  have  not  been  equally  so  if  his  attendance  were 
withdrawn.  Under  such  circumstances,  the  necessity  of  preserving  the 
purity  of  worship,  or  of  avoiding  an  active  co-operation  in  what  we 
deem  sinful  or  erroneous  (the  only  justifiable  ground  of  separation), 
has  no  place.  The  objection  to  his  admission  is  founded  solely  on  a 
disapprobation  of  a  particular  practice  considered,  not  as  it  affects  us, 
aince  no  part  of  our  religious  practice  is  influenced  by  it,  but  in  relation 
to  its  intrinsic  demerits. 

Division  among  Christians,  especially  when  it  proceeds  to  a  breach 
of  communion,  is  so  fraught  with  scandal,  and  so  utterly  repugnant  to 
the  genius  of  the  gospel,  that  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  Christian  world 
have  concurred  in  regarding  it  as  an  evil  on  no  occasion  to  be  incurred, 
but  for  the  avoidance  of  a  greater — the  violation  of  conscience. 
Whenever  it  becomes  impossible  to  continue  in  a  religious  community 
wuhout  concurring  in  practices  and  sanctioning  abuses  which  the  word 
of  God  condemns,  a  secession  is  justified  by  the  apocalyptic  voice, 
"  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and 
that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues."  On  this  principle,  the  conduct  of 
the  Reformers  in  separating  from  the  Roman  hierarchy  admits  of  an 
ample  vindication :  in  consequence  of  the  introduction  of  superstitious 
rites  and  ceremonies,  it  became  impracticable,  to  continue  in  her  com- 
munion without  partaking  of  her  sins ;  and  for  a  similar  reason  the 
nonconformists  seceded  from  the  Church  of  England,  where  ceremonies 
were  enforced,  and  an  ecclesiastical  polity  established,  incompatible,  as 
they  conceived,  w-ith  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  the  Christian  institute. 
[n  each  of  these  cases,  the  blame  of  schism  did  not  attach  to  the  sepa- 
ratists, but  to  thai  spirit  of  imposition  which  rendered  such  a  measure 
requisite.  In  each  instance,  it  w-as  an  act  of  self-preservation,  rendered 
unavoidable  by  the  highest  necessity,  that  of  declining  to  concur  in  prac- 
tices at  which  their  conscience  revolted.  But  what  similarity  to  this 
is  discernible  in  the  conduct  of  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  ? 
They  are  not  engaged  in  preserving  their  own  liberty,  but  in  an  attack 
on  the  liberty  of  others:  their  object  is  not  to  preserve  the  worship  in 
which  they  join  pure  from  contamination  ;  but  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the 
consciences  of  their  brethren,  and  to  deny  them  the  privileges  of  the 
visible  church  on  account  of  a  difference  of  opinion,  which  is  neither 
imposed  on  themselves  nor  deemed  fundamental.  They  propose  to 
build  a  church,  upon  the  principle  of  an  absolute  exclusion  of  a  multi- 
tude of  societies,  which  they  must  either  acknowledge  to  be  true 
churches,  or  be  convicted,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  greatest  absurdity, 
while  for  a  conduct  so  monstrous  and  unnatural,  they  are  precluded  from 
the  plea  of  necessity,  because  no  attempt  is  made  by  Pedobaptists  to 
modify  their  worship,  or  to  control  the  most  enlarged  exercise  of  private 
judgment.  Upon  the  principle  for  which  I  am  contending,  they  are  not 
called  to  renounce  their  peculiar  tenets  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  nor 
to  express  their  approbation  of  a  contrary  practice ;  but  simply  not  to 
sever  themselves  from  the  body  of  Christ,  nor  refuse  to  unite  with  his 
church. 


TEKMS  OF  COMMUNION.  335 

However  familiap  the  spectacle  of  Christian  societies  who  have  no 
fellowship  or  intercourse  with  each  other  has  become,  he  who  consults 
the  New  Testament  will  instantly  perceive  that  nothing  more  repugnant 
to  the  dictates  of  inspiration,  or  to  the  practice  of  the  first  and  purest 
age,  can  be  conceived.  When  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the  primitive  times, 
we  behold  one  church  of  Christ,  and  one  only,  in  which,  when  new 
assemblies  of  Christians  arose,  they  were  considered,  not  as  multiplying 
but  diffusing  it ;  not  as  destroying  its  unity,  or  impairing  its  harmony, 
but  being  fitly  compacted  together  on  the  same  foundation,  as  a  mere 
accession  to  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  whole.  The  spouse  of 
Christ,  like  a  prolific  mother,  exulted  in  her  numerous  offspring,  who 
were  all  equally  cherished  in  her  bosom,  and  grew  up  at  her  side.  As 
the  necessity  of  departing  from  these  maxims,  or  of  appearing  to  depart 
from  them  at  least  by  forming  separate  societies,  arose  entirely  from 
that  spirit  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny  and  superstition  which  was  gradually 
developed,  so  a  similar  measure  is  justifiable  as  far  as  that  necessity 
extends,  and  no  further.  In  the  case  of  strict  communion,  it  has  no 
place  whatever.  In  that  case  it  is  not  a  defensive  but  an  offensive 
measure;  it  is  not  an  assertion  of  Christian  liberty  by  resisting  en- 
croachment, it  is  itself  a  violent  encroachment  on  the  freedom  of  others  ; 
not  an  effort  to  preserve  our  own  worship  pure,  but  to  enforce  a  con- 
formity to  our  views,  in  a  point  acknowledged  not  essential  to  salvation. 
That  the  unity  of  the  church  cannot  be  maintained  upon  those  principles, 
that  if  every  error  is  to  be  opposed,  not  by  mild  remonstrance  and  scrip- 
tural argument,  but  by  making  it  the  pretext  of  a  breach  of  communion, 
nothing  but  a  series  of  animosities  and  divisions  can  ensue,  the  experience 
of  past  ages  has  rendered  sufficiently  evident.  If  amid  the  infinite  diver- 
sity  of  opinions,  each  society  deems  it  necessary  to  render  its  own  pecu- 
liarities the  basis  of  vtnion,  as  though  the  design  of  Christians  in  forming 
themselves  into  a  church  were,  not  to  exhibit  the  great  principles  of  the 
gospel,  but  to  give  publicity  and  effect  to  party  distinctions,  all  hope 
of  restoring  Christian  harmony  and-  unanimity  must  be  abandoned. 
When  churches  are  thus  constituted,  instead  of  enlarging  the  sphere  of 
Christian  charity,  they  become  so  many  hostile  confederacies. 

If  it  be  once  admitted  that  a  body  of  men  associating  for  Christian 
worship  have  a  right  to  enact,  as  terms  of  communion,  something  more 
than  is  included  in  the  terms  of  salvation,  the  question  suggested  by 
St.  Paul — "Is  Christ  divided ?"  is  utterly  futile:  what  he  considered  as 
a  solecism  is  reduced  to  practice,  and  established  by  law.  How  is  it 
possible  to  attain  or  preserve  unanimity  in  the  absence  of  an  intelligible 
standard  ?  and  when  we  feel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  depart  from  a  Divine 
precedent,  and  to  affect  a  greater  nicety  and  scrupulosity  in  the  separa- 
tion of  the  precious  and  the  vile,  than  the  Searcher  of  hearts,;  when 
we  follow  the  guidance  of  private  partialities  and  predilections,  without 
pretending  to  regulate  our  conduct  by  the  pattern  of  our  great  Master ; 
who  is  at  a  loss  to  perceive  the  absolute  impossibility  of  preserving 
"  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  ?"  Of  what  is  essential 
to  salvation  it  is  not  difficult  to  judge :  the  quiet  of  the  conscience 
requires  that  the  information  on  this  subject  should  be  clear  and  precise : 


J36  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

whatever  is  beyond  is  involved  in  comparative  obscurity,  and  subject 
to  doubtful  disputation. 

TluNo  are  certain  propositions  which  produce  on  a  mind  free  from 
prejudice  sucli  instantaneous  conviction  as  scarcely  to  admit  of  formal 
proof.  Of  this  nature  is  the  following  position,  that  it  is  presumptuous 
to  aspire  to  a  greater  purity  and  strictness  in  selecting  the  materials  of 
a  church  tlian  are  observed  by  its  Divine  Founder ;  and  those  wliom 
he  f(^rms  and  actuates  by  his  Spirit,  and  admits  to  communion  with 
himself,  are  sulHciently  qualified  for  the  communion  of  mortals.  What 
can  be  alleged  in  contradiction  to  a  truth  so  indubitable  and  so  obvious? 
Nothing  but  a  futile  distinction  (futile  in  relation  to  the  present  subject) 
between  the  moral  and  the  positive  parts  of  Christianity.  We  are  told, 
again  and  again,  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  positive  and  arbitrary 
institution,  in  consequence  of  which,  the  right  to  it  is  not  to  be  judged 
of  by  moral  considerations  and  general  reasonings,  but  by  express 
prescription  and  command. 

Willing  to  meet  objectors  on  their  own  ground,  we  request  them  to 
point  us  to  the  passage  in  the  code  of  inspiration  where  unbaptized 
Christians  are  forbidden  to  participate  ;  and  all  the  answer  we  receive 
consists  merely  of  those  inferences  and  arguments  from  analogy  against 
which  they  protest :  so  that  our  opponents,  unsupported  by  the  letter 
of  Scripture,  are  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  general  reasoning,  not  less 
than  ourselves,  however  lame  and  defective  that  reasoning  may  be. 

When  we  urge  them  with  the  fact  that  all  genuine  Christians  are 
received  by  Christ,  and  that  his  conduct  in  this  instance  is  proposed  as 
a  pattern  for  our  imitation,  they  are  compelled  to  shift  their  ground ; 
and  although  it  is  evident  to  every  one  who  reflects  that  we  mean  to 
assert  the  obligation  of  adhering  to  that  example  only  as  far  as  it  is 
Known,  they  adduce  the  instance  of  immoral  professors,  who,  though 
received,  as  they  contend,  by  Christ,  are  justly  rejected  by  the  church. 
But  how,  we  ask,  are  we  to  ascertain  the  fact  that  such  persons  are 
accepted  of  Christ,  till  they  give  proof  of  their  repentance  1  Is  it  pre- 
cisely the  same  thing  to  neglect  a  known  rule  of  action,  as  to  cease  to 
follow  it,  when  it  is  involved  in  hopeless  obscurity  1  Admittiiig,  for 
argument's  sake,  that  disorderly  livers  have  uninterrupted  union  with 
the  Saviour,  it  is  impossible  that  we  should  know  it  while  they  continue 
jmpenitent,  and  therefore,  on  such  occasions,  it  ceases  to  be  a  rule. 
But  in  rejecting  Pedobaptists  in  the  mass,  they  reject  a  numerous  class 
of  Christians  whom  they  knov/  and  acknowledge  to  be  the  temples  of 
,he  Holy  Ghost.  If  the  two  cases  are  parallel,  we  acknowledge  the 
justice  of  the  conclusion ;  if  not,  what  more  futile  and  absurd  ?  Let 
It  be  remembered,  however,  that  all  this  quibbling  and  tergiversation  are 
employed  to  get  rid  of  an  apostolic  canon,  and  that  they  bear  upon  our 
principles  in  no  other  sense  than  as  they  tend  to  nullify  or  impair  the 
force  of  an  inspired  maxim..  If  we  are  in  error,  we  deem  it  no  small 
felicity  to  err  in  such  company. 

Before  I  close  this  section,  I  must  he  permitted  to  remark  an  incon- 
sistency in  the  conduct  of  our  opponents  connected  with  this  part  of 
the  subject  which  has  often  excited  my  surprise.     Disclaiming,  as  they 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  337 

do,  all  communion  xvith  Pedobaptists,  and  refusing  to  acknowledge 
them  as  a  legitimate  part  of  the  Christian  church,  we  should  naturally 
expect  they  would  shun  every  approach  to  such  a  recognition  of  them 
with  peculiar  care  in  devotional  exercises,  in  solemn  addresses  to  the 
Deity.  Nothing,  on  the  contrary,  is  more  common  than  the  interchange 
of  religious  services  between  Baptists  and  Independents,  in  which  the 
Pedobaptist  minister  is  solemnly  recommended  to  the  Supreme  Being 
as  the  pastor  of  the  church,  and  his  blessing  earnestly  implored  on  the 
relation  they  stand  in  to  each  other ;  nor  is  it  unusual  for  a  Baptist  to 
officiate  at  the  ordination  of  an  Independent  minister,  by  delivering  a 
charge,  or  inculcating  the  duties  of  the  people,  in  a  discourse  appro- 
priated to  the  occasion.  They  feel  no  objection  to  have  communion 
with  Pedobaptists  in  prayer  and  praise,  the  most  solemn  of  all  acts  of 
worship,  even  on  an  occasion  immediately  connected  with  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  religious  society  ;  but  no  sooner  does  the  idea  of  the  Eucharist 
occur,  than  it  operates  like  a  spell,  and  all  this  language  is  changed, 
and  these  sentiments  vanish.  It  is  surely  amusing  to  behold  a  person 
solemnly  inculcating  the  reciprocal  duties  of  a  relation  which,  on  his 
principles,  has  no  existence  ;  and  interceding  expressly  in  behalf  of  a 
pastor  and  a  church,  when,  if  we  credit  his  representations  at  other 
times,  that  church  is  illegitimate,  and  the  title  of  pastor  consequently 
a  mere  usurpation.  Although  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  ap- 
proach of  Pedobaptists  to  the  sacred  table  is,  on  their  principles,  a  pre- 
sumptuous intrusion,  it  is  seldom  that  the  advocates  of  strict  commu- 
nion feel  any  scruple  in  attempting,  by  devotional  exercises,  to  prepare 
the  mind  for  the  right  performance  of  what  they  are  accustomed  to 
stigmatize  as  radically  wrong.  For  my  part,  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to 
reconcile  these  discrepancies.  Is  it  that  they  consider  less  attention  to 
truth,  a  less  exact  correspondence  between  the  language  and  the  senti- 
ments, requisite  in  addressing  the  Deity  than  in  discoursing  with  their 
fellow.-mortals  1  Or  is  it  not  more  candid  to  suppose  that  devotion' 
elevates  them  to  a  higher  region,  where  they  breathe  a  freer  air,  and 
look  down  upon  the  petty  subtleties  of  a  thorny,  disputatious  theology 
with  a  just  and  sovereign  contempt  ? 


SECTION  IV. 

The  Exclusion  of  Pedobaptists  from  the  Lord's  Table  considered  as  a 

Punishment, 

The  refusal  of  the  Eucharist  to  a  professor  of  Christianity  can  be 
justified  only  on  the  ground  of  his  supposed  criminality, — of  his  em- 
bracing heretical  sentiments,  or  living  a  vicious  life.  As  the  sentence 
of  exclusion  is  the  severest  the  church  can  inflict,  and  no  punishment 
just  but  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  preceding  delinquency,  it  follows 
of  course  that  he  who  incurs  the  total  privation  of  church  privileges 
must  be  considered  eminently  in  the  light  of  an  offender.  When  the 
incestuous  person  was  separated  from  the  church  at  Corinth,  it  was 

Vol.  I.— Y 


J3H  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

retr:iii't'i^  ^H  St.  Paul  as  a  punishment,  and  that  of  no  ordinary  magni- 

tniio  : "  Sudicient,"  said  he,  "  is  this  pvmishment,  which  was  inflicted 

of  nianv."  Nor  is  there  any  difference  with  respect  to  the  present 
inquiry,  between  the  refusal  of  a  candidate  and  the  expulsion  of  a 
nieinber ;  since  notiiinor  ^vill  justify  the  former  of  these  measures 
wliich  mioht  not  be  equally  alleged  in  vindication  of  the  latter.  Both 
amount  to  a  declaration  of  tlie  parties  being  unworthy  to  communicate. 
The  language  hold  by  our  opponents  is  sufficiently  decisive  on  this 
head: — "It  is  not  every  one,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "that  is  received  of 
Jesus  Christ  who  is  eniitled  to  communion  at  his  table ;  but  such,  and 
such  only,  as  revere  his  authority,  submit  to  his  ordinances,  and  obey 
the  laws'of  his  house."*  Hence,  to  be  consistent  with  themselves, 
they  must  impute  to  Pedobaptists  universally  a  degree  of  delinquency 
equal  to  that  which  attaches  to  the  most  flagrant  breaches  of  immo- 
rality ;  and  deem  them  equally  guilty  in  the  sight  of  God  with  those 
unjust  persons,  idolaters,  revellers,  and  extortioners,  who  are  declared 
incapable  of  entering  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  For  if  the  guilt 
imputed  in  this  instance  is  acknowledged  to  be  of  a  totally  different 
order  from  that  which  belongs  to  the  openly  vicious  and  profane,  how 
come  they  to  be  included  in  the  same  sentence  ?  and  where  is  the 
equity  of  animadverting  upon  unequal  faults  with  equal  severity  1 

To  be  consistent,  also,  tliey  must  invariably  refuse  to  tolerate  every 
species  of  imperfection  in  their  members,  which  in  their  judgment  is 
equally  criminal  with  the  Pedobaptist  error :  but  how  far  they  are  from 
maintaining  this  impartiality  is  too  obvious  to  admit  of  a  question.  In 
churches  whose  discipline  is  the  most  rigid,  it  will  not  be  denied  that 
many  are  tolerated  who  are  chargeable  with  conduct  more  offensive  in 
the  sight  of  God  than  a  misconception  of  the  nature  of  a  positive 
institute ;  nor  will  they  assert  that  a  Brainerd,  a  Doddridge,  or  a 
Leighton  had  more  to  answer  for  at  the  supreme  tribunal  on  the  score 
of  infant  baptism,  than  the  most  doubtful  of  those  imperfect  Christians 
whom  they  retain  without  scruple  in  their  communion.  Let  theru 
remember,  too,  that  this  reasoning  proceeds  not  on  the  principle  of  the 
innocence  of  error  in  general,  or  of  infant-sprinkling  in  particular  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  that  it  takes  for  granted  that  some  degree  of  blame 
attaches  to  a  neglect,  though  involuntary,  of  a  positive  precept ;  we 
wish  only  to  be  informed  on  what  principle  of  equity  it  is  proposed  in 
the  infliction  of  ecclesiastical  censures,  to  equalize  things  which  are  not 
equal. 

From  those  injunctions  of  St.  Paul  which  have  already  been  distinctly 
noticed,  where  he  enforces  the  duty  of  reciprocal  toleration,  we  find 
him  insisting  on  certain  circumstances  adapted  to  diminish  the  moral 
estimate  of  the  errors  in  question,  and  to  show  that  they  involved  a  very 
inconsiderable  portion  of  blame,  compared  to  that  which  the  zealots, 
on  either  side,  were  disposed  to  impute.  Such  is  the  statement  of 
their  not  being  fundamental,  of  the  possibility  of  their  being  held  with 
u  pure  conscience,  and  the  certainty  that  both  parties  were   equally 

*  Apology,  p.  lOT. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  339 

comprehended  within -the  terms  of  salvation.  In  thus  attempting  to 
form  an  estimate  of  the  magnitude  of  tlie  mistakes  and  misconeejuions 
of  our  fellow-christians  in  a  moral  view,  for  the  purpose  of  regulating 
our  treatment  of  them,  we  are  justified  by  the  highest  authority ;  and 
the  only  rational  inquiry  seems  to  be,  whether  infant  baptism  is  really 
more  criminal  than  those  acknowledged  imperfections  which  are  allowed 
to  oe  proper  objects  of  Christian  forbearance.  If  it  be  affirmed  that  it 
is,  we  request  our  opponents  to  reconcile  this  assertion  with  the  high 
encomiums  they  are  wont  to  bestow  on  Pedobaptists,  many  of  whom 
they  feel  no  hesitation  in  classing,  on  other  occasions,  with  the  most 
eminent  saints  upon  earth.  That  they  are  perfectly  exempt  from 
blame  we  are  not  contending  ;  but  this  strange  combination  of  vice 
and  virtue  in  the  same  persons,  by  which  they  are  at  once  justly  ex- 
cluded from  the  church  as  criminal  and  extolled  as  saints,  is  perfectly 
incomprehensible.  The  advocates  of  this  doctrine  attempt  to  conceal 
its  deformity,  by  employing  an  attenuated  and  ambiguous  phraseology, 
and  instead  of  speaking  of  Pedobaptists  in  the  terms  their  system 
demands,  are  fond  of  applying  the  epithets  irregular,  disorderly,  &c. 
to  their  conduct.  Still  the  question  returns — Is  ihis  imputed  irregularity 
innocent  or  criminal  ?  If  the  former,  why  punish  it  at  all  1  If  the 
latter,  surely  the  punishment  should  be  proportioned  to  the  guilt ;  and 
if  it  exceed  the  measure  awarded  to  offences  equally  aggravated,  we 
must  either  pronounce  it  unjust,  or  confound  the  distinction  of  right  and 
wrong.  But  if  the  forfeiture  of  all  the  privileges  attached  to  Christian 
society  is  incurred  merely  by  infant  baptism,  while  numerous  imperfec- 
tions, both  in  sentiment  and  practice,  are  tolerated  in  the  same  church, 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  former  is  treated  with  more  severity  than 
the  latter.  If  it  be  more  criminal,  such  treatment  is  just ;  but  if  a 
Doddridge  and  a  Leighton  were  not,  even  in  the  judgment  of  our  oppo- 
nents, necessarily  more  criminal  in  the  sight  of  God  than  the  most 
imperfect  of  those  whom  they  retain  in  their  communion,  it  is  neither 
just  in  itself,  nor  upon  their  own  principles. 

If  we  consider  the  matter  in  another  light,  the  measure  under  con- 
sideration will  appear  equally  incapable  of  vindication.  As  it  is 
unquestionably  of  the  nature  of  punishment,  so  the  infliction  of  every 
species  of  punishment  is  out  of  place  which  has  no  tendency  to  reform 
the  offender,  or  to  benefit  others  by  his  example,  which  are  its  only 
legitimate  ends.  Whatever  is  besides  these  purposes  is  a  useless  waste 
of  suffering,  equally  condemned  by  the  dictates  of  reason  and  religion. 
The  application  of  this  principle  to  the  case  before  us  is  extremely 
obvious. 

I  am  far  from  thinking  lightly  of  the  spiritual  power  with  which 
Christ  has  armed  his  church.  It  is  a  high  and  mysterious  one,  which 
has  no  parallel  on  earth.  Nothing  in  the  order  of  means  is  equally 
adapted  to  awaken  compunction  in  the  guilty,  with  spiritual  censures 
impartially  administered.  The  sentence  of  excommunication  in  particu- 
lar, harmonizing  with  the  dictates  of  conscience,  and  re-echoed  by  her 
voice,  is  truly  terrible ;  it  is  the  voice  of  God,  speaking  through  it? 
legitimate  organ,   which   he    who   despises   or   neglects    ranks  with 

Y2 


340  TERMS  OF  COMMUNIOJN. 

"heathfn  men  ami  publicans,"  joins  the  synagogue  of  Satan,  and  takes 
his  lot  witti  an  unliolieving  world,  doomed  to  perdition.  Excommunica- 
tion is  a  sword  which,  strong  in  its  apparent  weakness,  and  the  sharper 
and  more  cllicacious  for  being  divested  of  all  sensible  and  exterior 
envelopements,  lights  immediately  on  the  spirit,  and  inflicts  a  wound 
which  no  balm  can  cure,  no  ointment  can  mollify,  but  which  must 
contiimc  to  ulcerate  and  burn,  till  healed  by  the  blood  of  atonement, 
applied  by  penitence  and  prayer.  In  no  instance  is  that  axiom  more 
fully  vcriiied,  "  The  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  men,  and  the 
foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than  men,"  than  in  the  discipline  of  his 
church.  By  encumbering  it  with  foreign  aid,  they  have  robbed  it  of  its 
real  strength  ;  by  calling  in  the  aid  of  temporal  pains  and  penalties,  tliey 
nave  removed  it  from  the  spirit  to  the  flesh,  from  its  contact  with  eternity 
.o  unite  it  to  secular  interests  ;  and,  as  the  corruption  of  the  best  things 
.s  the  worst,  have  rendered  it  the  scandal  and  reproach  of  our  holy 
leligion. 

While  it  retains  its  character  as  a  spiritual  ordinance,  it  is  the  chief 
bulwark  against  the  disorders  which  threaten  to  overturn  religion,  the 
■/ery  nerve  of  virtue,  and,  next  to  the  preaching  of  the  Cross,  the  princi- 

eal  antidote  to  the  "  corruptions  that  are  in  the  world  through  lust." 
liscipline  in  a  church  occupies  the  place  of  laws  in  a  state ;  and  as  a 
kingdom,  however  excellent  its  constitution,  wdll  inevitably  sink  into  a 
state  of  extreme  wTetchedness,  in  which  laws  are  either  not  enacted 
or  not  duly  administered ;  so  a  church  which  pays  no  attention  to 
discipline  will  either  fall  into  confusion,  or  into  a  state  so  much  worse 
that  little  or  nothing  will  remain  worth  regulating.  The  right  of 
mflicting  censures,  and  of  proceeding  in  extreme  cases  to  excommunica- 
tion, is  an  essential  branch  of  that  power  with  w^hich  the  church  is 
endowed,  and  bears  the  same  relation  to  discipline  that  the  administra- 
tion of  criminal  justice  bears  to  the  general  principles  of  government. 
When  this  right  is  exerted  in  upholding  the  "  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints,"  or  enforcing  a  conscientious  regard  to  the  laws  of  Christ, 
it  raaintams  its  proper  place,  and  is  highly  beneficial.  Its  cognizance 
of  doctrine  is  justified  by  apostolic  authority ;  "  a  heretic,  after  two  or 
three  admonitions,  reject:"  nor  is  it  to  any  purpose  to  urge  the  differ- 
ence between  ancient  heretics  and  modern,  or  that  to  pretend  to  dis- 
tinguish truth  from  error  is  a  practical  assumption  of  infallibility.  While 
the  truth  of  the  gospel  remains,  a  fundamental  contradiction  to  it  is 
possible :  and  the  difficulty  of  determining  Avhat  is  so  must  be  exactly 
proportioned  to  the  difliculty  of  ascertaining  the  import  of  revelation, 
which  he  who  affirms  to  be  insurmountable  ascribes  to  it  such  an 
obscurity  as  must  defeat  its  primary  purpose. 

He  wlio  contends  that  no  agreement  in  doctrine  is  essential  to  com- 
munion must,  if  he  understands  himself,  either  mean  to  assert  that 
Christianhy  contains  no  fundamental  truths,  or  that  it  is  not  necessary 
that  a  member  of  a  church  should  be  a  Christian.  The  first  of  these 
positions  sets  aside  the  necessity  of  faith  altogether ;  the  last  is  a  con- 
tradiction in  terms.  For  these  reasons,  it  is  required  that  the  operation 
of  discipline  should  extend  to  speculative  errors,  no  less  than  to  practical 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  341 

enormities.  But  since  it  is  not  pretended  that  Pedobaptists  are  here- 
tics, it  is  evident  that  'they  are  not  subject  to  the  cognizance  of  the 
church  under  that  character.  As  they  differ  from  us  merely  in  the 
interpretation  of  a  particular  precept,  while  they  avow  the  same  de- 
ference to  the  legislator,  the  proper  antidote  to  their  error  is  calm, 
dispassionate  argument,  not  the  exercise  of  power.  Let  us  present  the 
evidence  on  which  our  practice  is  grounded  to  the  greatest  advantage, 
to  which  the  display  of  a  conciliating  spirit  will  contribute  more  than  a 
little  :  but  to  proceed  with  a  high  hand,  and  attempt  to  terminate  the 
dispute  by  authority,  involves  an  utter  misconception  of  the  true  nature 
and  object  of  discipline,  which  is  never  to  decide  what  is  doubtful,  to 
elucidate  what  is  obscure,  but  to  promulgate  the  sentence  which  the 
immutable  laws  of  Christ  have  provided,  with  the  design,  in  the  first 
place,  of  exciting  compunction  in  the  breast  of  the  offender,  and  next 
of  profiting  others  by  his  example.  The  solemn  decision  of  a  Christian 
assembly,  that  an  individual  has  forfeited  his  right  to  spiritual  privileges, 
and  is  henceforth  consigned  to  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  is  an  awful  pro- 
ceeding, only  inferior  in  terror  to  the  sentence  of  the  last  day. 

But  what  is  it  which  renders  it  so  formidable  1  It  is  its  accordance 
with  the  moral  nature  of  man,  its  harmony  with  the  dictates  of  con- 
science, which  gives  it  all  its  force.  When,  on  the  contrary,  the  pious 
inquirer  is  satisfied  with  his  own  conduct,  viewing  it  with  approbation 
and  complacency ;  when  he  is  fortified,  as  in  the  present  instance,  by 
the  example  of  a  great  majority  of  the  Christian  world,  who  are  ready 
to  receive  him  with  open  arms,  and  to  applaud  him  for  the  very  practice 
which  has  provoked  it,  how  vain  is  it  to  expect  that  his  exclusion  from 
a  particular  church  will  operate  a  change !  When  he  learns,  too,  that 
his  supposed  error  is  not  pretended  to  be  fatal,  but  such  as  may  be  held 
with  a  good  conscience,  and  with  faith  unfeigned,  and  is  actually  held 
by  some  of  the  best  of  men,  it  is  easy  to  foresee  what  sentiments  he 
will  feel  towards  the  authors  of  such  a  measure,  and  how  little  he  will 
be  prepared  to  examine  impartially  the  evidence  of  that  particular 
opinion  which  has  occasioned  it.  Such'  a  proceeding,  not  having  the 
remotest  tendency  to  inform  or  to  alarm  the  conscience,  is  ineffectual  to 
every  purpose  of  discipline ;  and  as  it  professedly  comprises  nothing 
of  the  nature  of  argument,  no  light  can  be  derived  from  it,  towards  the 
elucidation  of  a  controverted  question.  It  interposes  by  authority,  in- 
stead of  reason,  where  authority  can  avail  nothing,  and  reason  is  all  in 
all :  and  while  it  is  contemptible  as  an  instrument  employed  to  compel 
aianimity,  its  power  of  exciting  prejudice  and  disgust  is  unrivalled. 
St.^h  are  the  mischiefs  resulting  from  confounding  together  the  prov- 
inces of  discipline  and  of  argument ;  and  since  the  practice  which  we 
have  ventured  to  oppose,  if  it  has  any  meaning,  is  intended  to  operate 
as  a  punishment,  without  answering  one  of  the  ends  for  which  it  is 
inflicted,  it  is  high  time  it  was  consigned  to  oblivion. 

There  is  another  consideration,  sufficiently  related  to  the  part  of  the 
subject  before  us  to  justify  my  introducing  it  here,  as  I  would  wis/i  to 
avoid  the  unnecessary  multiplication  of  divisions.  Whatever  criminality 
attaches  to  the  practice  of  free  communion  must  entirely  consist  in 


342  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

sanctioninir  the  improper  conduct  of  the  parties  with  whom  we  unite; 
and  if  it  be  wrong  to  join  with  Pedobaptists  at  the  Lord's  table,  it  must 
be  still  more  so  in  them  to  celebrate  it.  When  an  action  allowed  in 
itself  to  be  innocent  or  commendable  becomes  improper  as  performed 
in  conjunction  with  another,  that  impropriety  must  result  solely  from  the 
moral  incompetence  to  that  action  of  tlie  party  associated.  Thus,  in  the 
instance  before  us,  it  nuist  be  assumed  that  Pedobaptists  are  morally 
culpable  in  approaching  the  sacred  symbols,  or  tlie  attempt  to  criminate 
us  for  sanctioning  them  in  that  practice  would  be  ridiculous.  As  it  is 
allowed  that  every  baptized  believer  not  only  may  partake,  but  ought 
to  partake,  of  that  spiritual  repast,  his  uniting  with  Pedobaptists  on  that 
occasion  is  liable  to  objection  on  no  other  ground  than  that  it  may  be 
considered  as  intimating  his  approbation  of  their  conduct  in  that  par- 
ticular. Upon  the  principles  of  our  opponents,  their  approach  is  not 
only  sinful,  but  sinful  to  such  a  degree  as  to  communicate  a  moral  taint 
to  what,  in  other  circumstances,  would  be  deemed  an  act  of  obedience. 
Here  the  first  question  that  arises  is, — Are  the  advocates  of  infan< 
baptism  criminal  in  approaching  the  Lord's  table  ? 

Be  it  remembered,  that  our  controversy  with  them  respects  the 
ordinance  of  baptism  only,  which  we  suppose  them  to  have  misconceived 
and  that  it  has  no  relation  to  the  only  remaining  positive  institute 
Believing,  as  many  of  them  unquestionably  do,  that  they  are  as  truly 
baptized  as  ourselves,  and  there  being  no  controversy  between  us  op 
the  subject  of  the  Eucharist,  it  is  impossible  for  them,  even  on  the 
principles  of  our  opponents,  to  entertain  the  least  scruple  respecting.- 
the  obligation  of  attending  to  that  ordinance.  Admitting  it  possible  for 
them  to  beli&ve  what  they  uniformly  and  invariably  profess,  they  cannor 
fail  of  being  fully  convinced  that  it  is  their  duty  to  communicate.  Undei 
these  circumstances,  ought  they  to  communicate,  or  ought  they  not' 
If  we  answer  in  the  negative,  we  must  affirm  that  men  ought  not  to 
pursue  that  course  which,  after  the  most  mature  deliberation,  the 
unhesitating  dictates  of  conscience  suggest ;  which  would  go  to  oblite- 
rate and  annul  the  only  immediate  rule  of  human  action.  Nor  can  it 
be  objected  with  truth  that  the  tendency  of  this  reasoning  is  to  destroy 
the  absolute  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  by  referring  all  to 
conscience.  That  apart  from  human  judgments  there  is  an  intrinsic 
moral  difference  in  actions  we  freely  admit,  and  hence  results  the 
previous  obligation  of  informing  the  mind  by  a  diligent  attention  to  the 
dictates  of  reason  and  religion,  and  of  delaying  to  act  till  we  have 
sufficient  light ;  but  in  entire  consistence  with  this,  we  affirm  that  where 
there  is  no  hesitation  the  criterion  of  immediate  duty  is  the  suggestion 
of  conscience,  whatever  guilt  may  have  been  previously  inciirred  by  the 
neglect  of  serious  and  impartial  inquiry.  That  this,  under  the  modifica 
tions  already  specified,  is  the  only  criterion  is  sufficiently  evident  from 
the  impossibility  of  conceiving  any  other.  If  it  lead  (as  it  easily  may 
from  the  neglect  of  the  previous  inquiry  already  mentioned)  to  a  devia 
tion  from  absolute  rectitude,  we  must  not  concur  in  the  action  in  which 
such  deviation  is  involved. 

To  apply  these  principles  to  the  case  before  us.     Whatever  blame 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  343 

we  may  be  disposed  to  attribute  to  the  abetters  of  irifant  baptism  on 
ihe  score  of  previous' inattention  or  prejudice,  as  there  is  nothing  in 
then  principles  to  cause  them  to'  hesitate  respecting  the  obHgaiion  of 
the  Eucharist,  it  is  unquestionably  their  i7nmediate  duty  to  celebrate  it; 
they  would  be  guilty  of  a  deliberate  and  wilful  ofience  were  they  to 
neglect  it.  *  And  as  it  is  their  duty  to  act  thus,  in  compliance  with  the 
dictates  of  conscience,  we  cannot  be  guilty  of  sanctioning  what  is  evil 
in  them  by  the  approbation  implied  in  joint  participation.  As  far  as 
they  are  concerned  the  case  seems  clear,  and  no  sanction  is  given  to 
criminal  conduct.  It  remains  to  be  considered  only  how  the  action  is 
situated  with  respect  to  ourselves  ;  and  here  the  decision  is  stdl  more 
easy,  for  the  action  to  which  we  are  invited  is  not  only  consistent  with 
rectitude,  but  Avould  be  allowed  by  all  parties  to  be  an  instance  of  obe- 
dience, but  for  the  concurrence  of  Pedobaptists.  Thus  much  may  suf- 
fice in  answer  to  the  first  question,  respecting  the  supposed  criminality 
of  the  act  of  communion  as  performed  by  the  advocates  of  infant  bap- 
tism,— a  criminality  which  must  be  assumed  as  the  sole  basis  of  the 
charges  adduced  against  the  practice  we  are  defending. 

When  we  reflect  that  the  whole  of  our  opponents'  reasoning  turns 
upon  the  disqualification  of  Pedobaptists  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  it  is 
surprising  that  we  rarely  if  ever  find  them  contemplate  the  subject  in 
that  light,  or  advert  to  the  criminalify  of  breaking  down  that  sacred 
enclosure.  The  subordinate  agents  are  severely  censured,  the  principal 
offenders  scarcely  noticed,  and  if  my  reader  be  disposed  to  gratify  his 
curiosity  by  making  a  collection  of  all  the  uncandid  strictures  which 
have  been  passed  upon  the  advocates  of  pedobaptism,  it  is  more  than 
probable  the  charge  of  profaning  the  Lord's  Supper  would  not  be  found 
among  the  number.  Yet  this  is  the  original  sin ;  this  the  epidemic 
evil,  as  widely  diffused  as  the  existence  of  Pedobaptist  communities : 
and  if  it  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  attach  a  portion  of  guilt  to  whatever 
comes  into  contact  with  it,  it  must,  considering  its  extensive  prevalence, 
be  one  of  the  most  crying  enormities.  It  is  an  evil  which  has  spread 
much  wider  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  :  it  is  a  pollution  which 
(with  the  exception  of  one  sect  only)  attaches  to  all  flesh,  and  is  un- 
blushingly  avowed  by  the  professors  of  Christianity  in  every  part  of 
the  universe.  And,  what  is  most  surprising,  the  only  persons  who  have 
discovered  it,  instead  of  lifting  up  their  voice,  maintain  a  profound 
silence  ;  and,  while  they  are  sufficiently  liberal  in  their  censures  on  the 
popular  error  respecting  baptism,  are  not  heard  to  breathe  a  murmur 
against  this  erroneous  abuse.  In  truth,  they  are  so  little  impressed  with 
it  that  they  decline  urging  it  even  where  the  mention  of  it  would  seem 
unavoidable.  When  they  are  rebuking  us  for  joining  with  our  Pedobaptist 
brethren  in  partaking  of  a  sacrament  for  which  they  are  supposed  to  want 
the  due  qualifications,  it  is  not  iAczV  presumption  in  approaching  on  which 
they  insist,  as  might  be  reasonably  expected  ;  on  that  subject  they  are 
silent,  while  they  vehemently  inveigh  against  the  imaginary  counte- 
nance we  afford  to  the  neglect  of  baptism.  Thus  they  persist  in  con- 
struing our  conduct,  not  into  an  approval  of  that  act  of  communion  in 
which  we  are  engaged,  but  into  a  tacit  submission  of  the  validity  of 


344  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

infant  baptism,  against  which  we  are  known  lo  remonstrate.  In  short, 
fhev  are  disposed  to  attack  our  practice  in  any  point  rather  tlian  in 
that  in  whii-h,  if  we  are  wrong,  it  is  alone  vuhierable,  that  of  its  being 
an  expression  of  our  approbation  of  Pedobaptists  celebrating  the  Eu- 
charist. In  the  same  spirit,  when  they  have  once  procured  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  obnoxious  party  from  their  assemblies,  they  are  (?ompk'tely 
satislled  ;  their  communion  elsewhere  gives  them  no  concern,  tliough 
it  must  be  allowed,  on  the  supposition  of  the  pretended  disqualification, 
that  the  evil  remains  in  its  full  force.  Nor  are  they  ever  known  to  re- 
monstrate with  them  on  this  irregularity  during  its  continuance ;  nor, 
should  they  afterward  become  converts  to  our  doctrine,  to  recall  it  to 
their  attention  with  a  view  to  excite  compunction  and  remorse ;  so  that 
tliis  is  perhaps  the  only  sin  for  which  men  are  never  called  to  repent- 
ance, and  of  which  no  man  has  been  known  to  repent.  When  our 
Lord  dismissed  the  woman  taken  in  adultery,  though  he  did  not  pro- 
ceed to  judge  her,  he  solemnly  charged  her  to  sin  no  more :  the  advo- 
cates for  strict  communion,  when  they  dismiss  Pedobaptists,  give  them 
no  such  charge  ;  their  language  seems  to  be, — "  Go,  sin  by  yourselves, 
and  we  are  satisfied." 

The  inference  I  would  deduce  from  these  remarkable  facts  is,  that 
they  possess  an  internal  conviction  that  the  class  of  Christians  whom 
they  proscribe  would  be  guilty  of  a  great  impropriety  in  declining  to 
communicate  in  the  sacramental  elements ;  and  that  the  union  of  Bap- 
tists with  them  in  that  solemnity,  so  far  from  being  liable  to  the  impu 
tation  of  "  partaking  in  other  men's  sins,"  is  not  only  lawful,  but  com- 
mendable. 


SECTION   V. 

On  the  Impossihility  of  reducing  the  Practice  of  Strict  Communion  to 
any  general  Principle. 

When  a  particular  branch  of  conduct  is  so  circumstanced  as  to  be 
incapable  of  being  deduced  from  some  general  rule,  or  of  being  resolved 
into  aome  comprehensive  principle  founded  on  reason  or  revelation,  we 
may  be  perfectly  assured  it  is  not  obligatory.  Whatever  is  matter  of 
duty  is  a  part  of  some  whole,  the  relation  of  which  is  susceptible  of 
proof,  either  by  the  express  decision  of  Scripture,  or  by  general  rea- 
soning ;  and  a  point  of  practice  perfectly  insulated  and  disjointed  from 
the  general  system  of  duties,  whatever  support  it  may  derive  from  pre- 
judice, custom,  or  caprice,  can  never  be  satisfactorily  vindicated.  From 
want  of  attention  to  this  axiom,  both  the  world  and  the  church  have, 
m  different  periods,  been  overrun  with  innumerable  forms  of  supersti- 
tion and  folly ;  to  which  the  only  effectual  antidote  is  an  appeal  to 
principles.  Unless  I  am  much  mistaken,  the  question  under  discussion 
will  afford  a  striking  exemplification  of  the  justness  of  this  remark. 
If  it  be  found  impossible  to  fix  a  medium  between  the  toleration  of  all 
opinions  in  religion  and  the  restriction  of  it  to  errors  not  fundamentals 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  345 

the  practice  of  exclusive  communion  must  be  abandoned,  because  it  is 
neither  more  nor  les's  than  an  attempt  toestabUsh  such  a  medium.  By- 
errors  not  fundamental,  I  mean  such  as  are  admitted  to  consist  with  a 
state  of  grace  and  salvation  ;  such  as  are  not  supposed  to  prevent  their 
abetters  from  being  accepted  of  God.  With  such  as  contend  for  the 
indiscriminate  admission  of  all  doctrines,  on  the  one  hand,  or  with  the 
abetters  of  rigid  uniformity,  who  allow  no  latitude  of  sentiment,  on  the 
Dther,  we  have  no  concern ;  since  we  concur  with  our  opponents  in 
deprecating  both  these  extremes  ;  and  while  we  are  tenacious  of  the 
"  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  we  both  admit  that  some  indulgence  to  the 
mistakes  and  imperfections  of  the  truly  pious  is  due,  from  a  regard  to 
the  dictates  of  inspiration  and  the  nature  of  man.  The  only  subject 
of  controversy  is,  how  far  that  forbearance  is  to  be  extended  :  we  assert, 
to  every  diversity  of  judgment  not  incompatible  with  salvation  ;  they 
contend,  that  a  difference  of  opinion  on  baptism  is  an  excepted  case. 
If  the  word  of  God  had  clearly  and  unequivocally  made  this  exception, 
we  should  feel  ourselves  bound  to  admit  it,  upon  the  same  principle 
on  which  we  maintain  the  infallible  certainty  of  revelation ;  but  when 
we  press  for  this  decision,  and  request  to  be  directed  to  the  part  of 
Scripture  which  for  ever  prohibits  unbaptized  persons  from  approaching 
the  sacrament,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Jews  were  prohibited  from 
celebrating  the  passover  who  had  not  submitted  to  circumcision,  we 
meet  with  no  reply  but  precarious  inferences  and  general  reasoning. 

However  plausible  their  mode  of  arguing  may  appear,  the  impartial 
reader  will  easily  perceive  it  fails  in  the  main  point,  which  is,  to 
establish  that  specific  difference  between  the  case  they  except  out  of 
their  list  of  tolerated  errors,  and  those  which  they  admit,  which  shall 
justify  this  opposite  treatment.  Thus,  when  they  ask  whether  God 
has  not  "  commanded  baptism  ;  whether  it  is  not  the  believer's  duty  to 
be  found  in  it  ;"*  it  is  manifest  that  the  same  reasons  might  be  urged 
against  bearing  with  any  imperfection  in  our  fellow-christian  whatever  ; 
for  which  of  these,  we  ask,  is  not  inconsistent  with  some  command, 
and  a  violation,  in  a  greater  or  less'  degree,  of  some  duty  ?  with  this 
difference,  indeed,  that  many  of  the  imperfections  which  Christian 
churches  are  necessitated  to  bear  with  are  seated  in  the  will,  while  the 
case  before  us  involves  merely  an  unintentional  mistake.  "  It  is  not 
every  one,"  says  Mr.  Booth,  "  that  is  received  of  Jesus  Christ  who  is 
entitled  to  communion  at  his  table ;  but  such,  and  only  such,  as  revere 
his  authority,  submit  to  his  ordinances,  and  obey  the  laws  of  his  house  " 
This  is  the  most  formal  attempt  which  that  writer  has  made  to  specify 
the  difference  between  the  case  of  the  abetters  of  infant  baptism  and 
others  ;  for  which  reason  the  reader  will  excuse  my  directing  his  atten- 
tion to  it  for  a  few  moments.  We  are  indebted  to  him,  in  the  first 
place,  for  a  new  discovery  in  theology.  We  should  not  have  suspected, 
but  for  his  assertion,  that  there  could  be  a  description  of  persons  whom 
Christ  has  received,  who  neither  revere  his  authority,  submit  to  his 
ordinances,  ror  obey  his  laws.     How  Mr.  Booth  acquired  this  informa- 

*  Booth's  Apology,  jv  128. 


346  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

tion  wo  know  not ;  but  certainly  in  our  Saviour's  time  it  was  otherwi'se. 
"  TluMi  are  ve  my  disciples,"  said  he,  "  if  yc  do  whatsoever  1  have 
comuv.inded  vou."  I  congratulate  llic  public  on  tlie  prudence  evinced 
by  the  venerable  author  in  not  pubiisiiing  the  names  of  these  higlily 
privileged  individuals,  who  have  proved  their  title  to  heaven  to  his 
satisfaction,  without  reverence,  submission,  or  obedience  ;  wishing  his 
example  liad  been  imitated,  in  this  particular,  by  the  authors  of  the 
wonderful  conversions  of  malefactors,  ma'.iy  of  whom,  I  fear,  belong  to 
this  new  sect. 

Tliis  singular  description,  however,  I  scarcely  need  remind  the 
reader,  is  designed  to  characterize  Baptists  in  opposition  to  Pedo- 
baptists ;  and  were  it  not  the  production  of  a  man  whom  I  highly 
revere,  I  should  comment  upon  it  with  the  severity  it  deserves.  Suffice 
it  to  remark,  that  to  mistake  the  meaning  of  a  statute  is  one  thing,  not 
to  reverence  the  legislator  another  ;  that  he  cannot  submit  with  a  good 
conscience  to  an  ordinance  who  is  not  apprized  of  its  existence ;  and 
that  a  blind  obedience,  even  to  Divine  laws,  would  be  far  from  consti- 
tuting a  reasonable  service.  Every  conscientious  adherent  to  infant 
baptism  reveres  the  authority  of  Christ  not  less  than  a  Baptist,  and  is 
distinguished  by  a  spirit  of  submission  and  obedience  to  every  known 
part  of  his  will ;  and  as  this  is  all  to  which  a  Baptist  can  pretend,  and 
far  more  than  many  who,  without  scruple,  are  tolerated  in  our  churches 
can  boast,  we  are  as  far  as  ever  from  ascertaining  the  specific  difference 
between  the  case  of  the  Pedobaptist,  and  other  instances  of  error  sup- 
posed to  be  entitled  to  indulgence.  In  spite  of  Mr.  Booth's  marvellous 
definition,  reverence,  submission,  and  obedience  are  such  essential 
features  in  the  character  of  a  Christian,  that  he  who  was  judged  to  be 
destitute  of  them,  in  their  substance  and  reality,  would  instantly  forfeit 
that  character ;  while  to  possess  them  in  perfection  is  among  the 
brightest  acquisitions  of  eternity.  It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that 
the  general  principles  of  morality  are  not  less  the  laws  of  Christ  than 
positive  rites,  and,  if  Ave  credit  prophets  and  apostles,  much  to  be  pre- 
ferred in  comparison ;  so  that  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  who  is 
deficient  in  attention  to  these,  while  he  is  more  exemplary  in  discharg- 
ing the  former  than  a  baptized  Christian  (a  very  frequent  case),  stands 
higher  in  the  scale  of  obedience.  So  equivocal  is  the  line  of  separa- 
tion here  attempted. 

When  the  necessity  of  tolerating  imperfection  is  once  admitted,  there 
remains  no  point  at  which  it  can  consistently  stop,  till  it  is  extended  to 
every  gradation  of  error,  the  habitual  mamtenance  of  which  is  com- 
patible with  a  state  of  salvation.  The  reason  is,  that  it  is  absolutely 
impossible  to  define  that  species  of  error  so  situated  as  not  to  preclude 
its  possessor  from  Divine  acceptance,  although  it  forfeits  his  title  to  the 
full  exercise  of  Christian  charity.  The  Baptists,  who  contend  for  con- 
fining the  Lord's  Supper  to  themselves,  imagine  they  have  found  such 
an  error  in  the  practice  of  initiating  infants  into  the  Christian  church. 
But  it  is  observable  that  they  can  reduce  it  to  no  class,  nor  define  it  by 
any  general  idea ;  and  when  we  urge  them  with  the  apostolic  injunction, 
to  bear  with  each  other's  infirmities,  they  have  nothing  to  reply,  but 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNIOIN.  347 

merely  that  St.  Paul  is  not  speaking  of  baptism,  which  is  true,  because 
one  thing  is  not  another ;  but  it  behooves  them  to  show  that  the  principle 
he  establishes  does  not  include  this  case,  and  here  they  are  silent. 

If  we  impartially  examine  the  reasons  on  which  we  rest  the  tolera- 
tion of  any  supposed  error,  we  shall  find  they  invariably  coincide  with 
the  idea  of  its  not  being  fundamental.  If  it  be  alleged,  for  example, 
that  the  error  in  question  relates  to  a  subject  less  clearly  revealed  than 
some  others,  what  is  this  but  to  insinuate  the  ease  with  which  an 
honest  inquirer  may  mistake  respecting  it  ?  If  the  little  practical  influ 
ence  it  is  likely  to  exert  is  alleged  as  a  plea  for  forbearance,  the  force 
of  sucli  a  remark  rests  entirely  on  the  assumption  of  an  indissoluble 
connexion  between  a  state  of  salvation  and  a  certain  character,  which 
the  opinion  in  question  is  supposed  not  to  destroy.  If  we  allege  the 
example  of  eminently  pious  men  who  have  embraced  it,  we  infer  from 
.analogy  the  actual  safety  of  the  person  by  whom  it  is  held ;  and,  in 
short,  it  is  impossible  to  construct  an  argument  for  the  exercise  of 
mutual  forbearance,  but  what  proceeds  upon  this  principle  ;  a  principle 
which  pervades  the  reasoning  of  our  opponents  on  every  other  occa- 
sion, except  this  of  strict  communion,  which  they  make  an  insulated 
case,  capriciously  exempting  it  from  the  arbitration  of  all  the  general 
rules  of  Scripture,  as  well  as  from  the  maxims  to  which,  in  all  other 
instances,  they  are  attached. 

Reluctant  as  I  feel  'to  trespass  on  the  patience  of  the  reader,  by 
unnecessarily  prolonging  the  discussion,  I  am  anxious,  if  possible,  to 
set  the  present  argument  in  a  still  stronger  light.  I  observe,  therefore, 
that  if  it  be  contended  that  a  certain  opinion  is  so  obnoxious  as  to 
justify  the  exclusion  of  its  abetters  from  the  privilege  of  Christian 
fellowship,  it  must  be  either  on  account  of  its  involving  a  contradiction 
to  the  saving  truth  of  the  gospel,  or  on  account  of  its  injurious  eft'ects 
on  the  character.  As  those  of  our  brethren  to  whom  this  reasoning  is 
addressed  positively  disclaim  considering  infant  baptism  in  the  former 
light,  they  will  not  attempt  to  vindicate  the  exclusion  of  Pedobaptists 
on  that  ground.  In  vindication  of  "such  a  measure,  they  must  allege 
the  injurious  effects  it  produces  on  the  character  of  its  abetters.  Here 
however,  they  have  precluded  themselves  from  the  possibility  of  urging 
that  the  injury  sustained  is  fatal,  by  the  previous  concession  that  it 
does  not  involve  a  contradiction  to  saving  truth.  Could  they,  whliait 
cancelling  that  concession,  urge  the  fatal  nature  of  the  influence  in 
question,  they  would  present  an  object  to  the  mind  sufficiently  precise 
and  determinate  ;  an  object  which  may  be  easily  conceived  and  accu 
rately  defined.  But  as  things  are  now  situated,  they  can,  at  most,  only 
insist  on  such  a  kind 'and  degree  of  deteriorating  effect  as  is  consister 
with  the  spiritual  safety  of  the  party  concerned  ;  and  as  they  are  amoxi'g 
the  first  to  contend  that  every  species  of  error  is  productive  of  injurious 
effects,  it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  point  out  some  consequences 
worse  in  their  kind,  or  more  aggravated  in  degree,  resulting  from  this 
particular  error,  than  what  may  he  fairly  ascribed  to  the  worst  of  thost 
erroneous  or  defective  views  which  they  are  accustomed  to  tolerate 
The.se  iruurious  consequences  must  also  occupy  an  irtermediate  plac^ 


348  TLRMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

between  two  extremes  ;  tliey  must,  on  the  one  hand,  be  decidedly  more 
serious  than  can  be  supposed  to  result  from  the  most  crude,  undigested,  or 
discordant  views  tolerated  in  regular  Baptist  churches,  yet  not  of  such 
a  nature,  on  the  other,  as  to  involve  the  danger  of  eternal  perdition. 
Let  them  specify,  if  it  be  in  their  power,  that  ill  influence  on  die  char- 
acter which  is  the  natural  consequence  of  the  tenet  of  infant-sprinkling, 
considered  per  sc,  or  independent  of  adventitious  circumstances,  and 
tlae  operation  of  accidental  causes,  which  justifies  a  treatment  of  its 
patrons  so  ditTerent  from  what  is  given  to  the  abetters  of  other  errors. 
This  malignant  influence  must,  I  repeat  it,  be  the  natural  or  necessary 
product  of  the  practice  of  pedobaptism  ;  because  the  simple  avcfwal  of 
this  is  deemed  sufficient  to  incur  the  forfeiture  of  church  privileges, 
without  further  time  or  inquiry.  However  vehemently  the  supporters 
of  such  a  measure  may  declaim  against  it,  or  however  triumphantly 
expose  the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded,  they  have  done  nothing 
towards  accomplishing  their  object — the  vindication  of  strict  commu- 
nion, since  the  same  mode  of  proceeding  might  be  adopted  towards 
any  other  misconception,  or  erroneous  opinion  ;  and  if  it  may  be  forcibly 
expelled  as  soon  as  it  is  confuted,  there  is  an  end  to  toleration. 
Toleration  has  no  place  but  in  the  presence  of  acknowledged  imperfec- 
tion. It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  them,  as  they  would  vindicate 
their  conduct  to  the  satisfaction  of  reasonable  men,  to  prove  that  some 
specific  deteriorating  effect  results  from  the  practice  of  infant  baptism, 
distmct  from  the  malignant  influence  of  error  in  general,  and  of  those 
imperfections  in  particular  which  are  not  inconsistent  with  salvation. 

Though  the  opposition  between  truth  and  error  is  equal  in  all  cases, 
and  the  former  always  susceptible  of  proof,  as  well  as  the  latter  of 
confutation,  all  error  is  not  opposed  to  the  same  truths ;  and  hence 
arises  a  distinction  between  such  erroneous  and  imperfect  views  of 
religion  as,  however  they  may  in  their  remoter  consequences  impair, 
do  not  contradict  the  gospel  testimony,  and  such  as  do.  We  lay  this 
distinction  as  the  basis  of  that  forbearance  towards  the  mistakes  and 
imperfections  of  good  men  for  which  we  plead  ;  and,  as  the  case  of 
our  Pedobaptist  brethren  is  clearly  comprehended  within  that  distinc- 
tion, feel  no  scruple  in  admitting  them  to  Christian  fellowship.  We 
are  attached  to  that  distinction  because  it  is  both  scriptural  and  intelli- 
gible ;  while  the  hypothesis  of  the  strict  Baptists,  as  they  style  them- 
selves, is  so  replete  with  perplexity  and  confusion,  that,  for  my  part,  I 
absolutely  despair  of  comprehending  it.  It  proceeds  upon  the  supposi- 
tion of  a  certain  medium  between  two  extremes,  which  they  have  not 
even  attempted  to  fix ;  and  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  this,  their 
reasoning,  if  we  choose  to  term  it  such,  floats  an#  undulates  in  such  a 
manner,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  grasp  it.  On  the  pernicious 
influence  of  error  in  general  we  entertain  no  doubt,  but  we  demand, 
again  and  again,  to  have  that  precise  injurious  effect  of  infan:-sprinkling 
pointed  out  and  evinced,  which  is  more  to  be  deprecated  than  the  prob- 
able result  of  those  acknowledged  imperfections  to  which  they  extend 
their  indulgence.  This  must  surely  be  deemed  a  reasonable  requisition, 
though  it  is  one  with  which  they  have  not  hitherto  thought  fit  to  comply. 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  349 

The  operation  of  speculative  error  on  the  mind  is  one  of  the  profound- 
est  secrets  in  nature  ;  and  to  determine  the  precise  quantity  of  evil 
resulting  from  it  in  any  given  case  (except  the  single  one  of  its  involv- 
ing a  denial  of  fundamental  truth)  transcends  the  capacity  of  human 
nature.  We  must,  in  order  to  form  a  correct  judgment,  be  not  only 
perfectly  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  tendency  of  the  error  in  ques 
tion,  but  also  with  the  portion  of  attention  it  occupies,  as  well  as  the 
degree  of  zeal  and  attachment  with  which  it  is  embraced.  We  must 
determine  the  force  of  the  counteracting  principles,  and  how  far  it  bears 
an  affinity  to  the  predominant  failings  of  him  who  maintains  it ;  how 
far  it  coalesces  with  the  weaker  parts  of  his  moral  constitution.  These 
particulars,  however,  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  explore  when  the  inquiry 
respects  ourselves ;  how  much  more  to  establish  a  scale  which  shall 
mark  by  just  gradations  the  malignant  influence  of  erroneous  conceptions 
on  others  !  On  the  supposition  of  a  formal  denial  of  saving,  essential 
truth  we  feel  no  difficulty ;  we  may  determine  without  hesitation,  on 
the  testimony  of  God,  that  it  incurs  a  forfeiture  of  the  blessings  of  the 
new  and  everlasting  covenant,  among  which  the  communion  of  saints 
holds  a  distinguished  place.  But  such  a  supposition  is  foreign  to  the 
present  inquiry. 

Instead  of  losing  ourselves  in  a  labyrinth  of  metaphysical  subtleties 
our  only  safe  guide  is  an  appeal  to  facts ;  and  here  we  find  from  ex- 
perience that  the  sentiments  of  the  Pedobaptist  may  consist  with  the 
highest  attainments  of  piety  exhibited  in  modern  times,  with  the  most 
varied  and  elevated  forms  of  moral  grandeur,  without  impairing  the  zeal 
of  missionaries,  without  impeding  the  march  of  confessors  to  their 
prisons,  or  of  martyrs  to  the  flames.  We  are  willing  to  acknowledge 
these  tenets  have  produced  much  mischief  in  communities  and  nations 
who  have  confounded  baptism  with  regeneration ;  but  the  mere  belief 
of  the  title  of  infants  to  that  ordinance  is  a  misconception  respecting  a 
positive  institute  much  less  injurious  than  if  it  affected  the  vital  parts 
of  Christianity.  But  be  it  what  it  may,  we  contend  that  it  is  impossible, 
without  a  total  disregard  of  truth  and  decency,  to  assert  that  it  is 
intrinsically  and  essentially  more  pernicious  in  its  effects  than  the 
numerous  errors  and  imperfections  which  the  advocates  of  strict  com- 
munion feel  no  scruple  in  tolerating  in  the  best  organized  churches.  It 
is  but  justice  to  add  that  few  or  none  have  attempted  to  prove  that  it  is 
so ;  but  have  satisfied  themselves  with  a  certain  vague  and  loose  de- 
clamation, better  adapted  to  inflame  prejudice  than  to  produce  light  or 
conviction. 

In  the  government  of  the  church  there  is  a  choice  of  three  modes 
of  procedure,  each  consistent  with  itself,  though  not  equally  compatible 
with  the  dictates  of  reason  or  Scripture.  We  may  either  open  the 
doors  to  persons  of  all  sentiments  and  persuasions  who  maintain  the 
messiahship  of  Christ;  or  insist  upon  an  absolute  uniformity  of  belief; 
or  limit  the  necessity  of  agreement  to  articles  deemed  fundamental, 
leaving  subordinate  points  to  the  exercise  of  private  judgment.  The 
strict  Baptists  have  feigned  to  themselves  a  fourth,  of  which  it  is  not 
.less  difficult  to  form  a  clear  and  consistent  conceplion,  than  of  a  fourth 


350  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

dimension.  Tliey  have  pursued  the  clew  by  which  other  mqutrers  have 
been  conducted  till  they  arrived  at  a  certain  point,  when  they  refused 
to  proceed  a  step  farther,  without  being  able  to  assign  a  single  rea 
Bon  for  stopping  which  would  not  equally  prove  they  had  already 
proceeded  too  far.  They  have  attempted  an  incongruous  mixture  of 
liberal  principles  with  a  particular  act  of  intolerance ;  and  these,  like 
the  iron  and  clay  in  the  feet  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  will  not  mix. 
Hence  all  that  want  of  coherence  and  system  in  their  mode  of  reasoning, 
A'hich  might  be  expected  in  a  defence,  not  of  a  theory  so  properly,  as 
)f  a  capricious  sally  of  prejudice. 

Before  I  close  this  part  of  the  subject  I  must  just  remark  the  sensible 
chagrin  which  the  venerable  Booth  betrays  at  our  insisting  on  the 
distinction  between  fundamentals  and  non-fundamentals  in  religion,  and 
the  singular  manner  in  which  he  attempts  to  evade  its  force.  After 
obser\'ing  that  we  are  wont  in  defence  of  our  practice  to  plead  that  the 
points  at  issue  are  not  fundamental — "  Not  fundamental !"  he  indignantly 
exclaims,  "not  essential  !  But  in  what  sense  is  submission  to  baptism 
not  essential  ?  To  our  justifying  righteousness,  our  acceptance  with 
God,  or  our  interest  in  his  favour  ?  So  is  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  so  is 
every  part  of  our  obedience.  They  (the  friends  of  open  communion) 
will  readily  allow  that  an  interest  in  the  Divine  favour  is  not  obtained 
by  miserable  sinners,  but  granted  by  the  eternal  Sovereign  ;  and  that 
acceptance  with  the  high  and  holy  God  is  not  on  conditions  performed 
by  us,  but  in  consideration  of  the  vicarious  obedience  and  propitiary 
sufferings  of  the  great  Emanuel." 

"  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure."  In  the  mind  of  Mr.  Booth  nothing 
was  associated  with  this  language,  I  am  persuaded,  but  impressions  of 
piety  and  devotion ;  though  its  unguarded  texture  and  ambiguous  ten- 
dency are  too  manifest.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  put  any 
other  construction  upon  it  than  this ;  either  that  faith  and  repentance 
are  in  no  respect  conditions  of  salvation,  or  that  adult  baptism  is  of  equal 
necessity  and  importance.  When  it  is  asked.  What  is  essential  to 
salvation?  the  gospel  constitution  is  presupposed,  the  great  facts  in 
Christianity  assumed ;  and  the  true  import  of  the  inquiry  is,  What  is 
essential  to  a  personal  interest  in  the  blessings  secured  by  the  former, 
in  the  felicity  of  which  the  latter  are  the  basis  1  in  which  light,  to  reply. 
The  atonement  and  righteousness  of  Christ,  is  egregious  trifling, 
because,  being  things  out  of  ourselves,  though  the  only  preliminary 
basis  of  human  hope,  it  is  absurd  to  confound  them  with  the  character- 
istic difference  between  such  as  are  saved  and  such  as  perish.  When, 
in  like  manner,  an  inquiry  arises,  AVhat  is  fundamental  in  religion  ?  as 
we  rnust  be  supposed  by  religion  to  intend  a  system  of  doctrines  to  be 
believed  and  of  duties  to  be  performed,  to  direct  us  to  the  vicarious 
obedience  of  Christ,  not  as  a  necessary  object  of  belief,  but  as  a  trans- 
action absolute  and  complete  in  itself  and  to  pass  over  in  silence  the 
inherent  distinction  of  character,  the  faith  with  its  renovating  influence 
to  which  the  promise  of  life  is  attached,  is,  to  speak  in  the  mildest 
terms,  to  reply  in  a  manner  quite  irrelevant ;  and  when  to  this  is  joined 
even  by  implication  a  denial  of  the  existence  of  such  a  distinction,  we 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  35] 

are  conducied  to  the  bVink  of  a  precipice.  The  denial  of  this  is  the 
very  core  of  antinomianism,  to  which  it  is  painful  to  see  so  able  a  writer 
and  so  excellent  a  man  as  Mr.  Booth  make  the  slightest  approach.  We 
would  seriously  ask  whether  it  be  intended  to  deny  that  the  belief  of  any 
doctrines,  or  the  infusion  of  any  principles  or  dispositions  whatever,  is 
essential  to  future  happiness ;  if  this  be  intended,  it  supersedes  the  use 
and  necessity  of  every  branch  of  internal  religion.  If  it  is  not,  we  ask, 
Are  correct  views  on  the  subject  of  baptism  to  be  classed  among  those 
doctrines  1 

Had  we  been  contending  for  an  indulgence  towards  such  as  are 
convinced  of  the  obligation  of  believers'  baptism,  but  refuse  to  act  up  to 
their  convictions  and  shrink  from  the  Cross,  some  parts  of  the  expostu- 
lation we  have  quoted  might  be  considered  as  pertinent ;  but  to  attempt 
to  explain  away  a  distinction  the  most  important  in  theology,  the  only 
centre  of  harmony,  the  only  basis  of  peace  and  concord,  and  the  grand 
bulwark  opposed  to  the  sophistry  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  is  anhumihat- 
ing  instance  of  the  temerity  and  imprudence  incident  to  the  best  of  men. 
The  Jesuit  Twiss,  in  that  controversy  with  the  Protestants  which  gave 
occasion  to  the  inimitable  defence  of  their  principles  by  the  immortal 
Chillingworth,  betrayed  the  same  impatience  with  our  author  at  this 
distinction,  though  in  perfect  consistence  with  the  doctrines  of  a  church 
which  pretends  by  an  appeal  to  an  infallible  tribunal  to  decide  every 
controversy  and  to  preclude  every  doubt. 

Notliing  but  an  absolute  despair  of  giving  a  satisfactory  reply  to  the 
arguments  drawn  from  this  quarter  could  have  tempted  Mr.  Booth  to 
quarrel  with  a  distinction  so  justly  dear  to  all  Protestants  ;  and  it  is  no 
small  presumption  of  the  justness  of  our  sentiments,  that  the  attempt  to 
refute  them  is  found  to  require  that  subversion  of  the  most  received 
axioms  in  theology,  together  with  the  strange  paradox,  that  while  much 
more  than  we  suppose  is  necessary  to  communion,  nothing  is  essential 
to  salvation.  In  consideration,  however,  of  the  embarrassment  of  our 
opponents,  we  feel  it  easy  to  overlook  the  effusions  of  their  discontent ; 
but  as  it  is  not  usual  to  consult  the  enemy  on  the  choice  of  weapons, 
we  shall  continue  to  employ  such  as  we  find  most  efficacious,  though 
they  may  not  be  the  most  pleasant  to  the  touch. 


SECTION    VI. 

The  Impoliaj  of  the  Practice  of  Strict  Communion  considered. 

In  the  affairs  of  religion  and  morality,  where  a  Divine  authority  is 
interposed,  the  first  and  chief  attention  is  due  to  its  dictates,  which  we 
are  not  permitted  to  violate  in  the  least  instance,  though  we  proposed 
by  such  violation  to  promote  tlie  interests  of  religion  itself.  She  scorns 
to  be  indebted  even  for  conquest  to  a  foreign  force :  "  the  weapons  of 
her  warfare  are  n/it  carnal."  We  have  on  this  account  carefully  ab- 
stained from  urging  the  imprudence  of  the  measure  we  have  ventured 
to  propose,  from  an  apprehension  that  we  might  be  suspected  of  atterant 


352  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

ing  to  bias  the  suffrage  of  our  readers  by  considerations  and  motives 
disproportioiud  to  the  majesty  of  revealed  truth.  But  having,  us  I 
trust,  sutlicieiitlv  shown  tliat  the  practice  of  strict  communion  derives 
no  support  from  that  quarter,  the  way  is  open  for  the  introduction  of  a 
few  remarks  on  the  natural  tendency  and  effect  of  the  two  opposite 
systems.  I  would  just  premise  that  I  hope  no  offence  will  be  given  to 
Pedobaptists,  by  denominating  their  sentiments  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism (rro7icous,  as  though  it  were  expected  that  our  assertion  should  be 
accepted  for  proof.  It  is  designed  as  a  simple  statement  of  my  opinion, 
and  is  assumed  as  the  basis  of  my  reasonmg  with  my  stricter  brethren. 

Truth  and  error,  as  they  are  essentially  opposite  in  their  nature,  so 
the  causes  to  which  they  arc  indebted  for  their  perpetuity  and  triumph 
are  not  less  so.  "Wliatever  retards  a  spirit  of  inquiry  is  favourable  to 
error ;  whatever  promotes  it,  to  truth.  But  nothing,  it  will  be  acknow- 
ledged, has  a  greater  tendency  to  obstruct  the  exercise  of  free  inquiry 
than  the  spirit  and  feeling  of  a  party.  Let  a  doctrine,  however  erroneous, 
become  a  party  distinction,  and  it  is  at  once  intrenched  in  interests  and 
attachments  which  make  it  extremely  difficult  for  the  most  powerful 
artillery  of  reason  to  dislodge  it.  It  becomes  a  point  of  honour  in  the 
leaders  of  such  parties,  which  is  from  thence  communicated  to  their 
followers,  to  defend  and  support  their  respective  peculiarities  to  the 
last ;  and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  to  shut  their  ears  against  all  the 
pleas  and  remonstrances  by  which  they  are  assailed.  Even  the  wisest 
and  best  of  men  are  seldom  aware  how  much  they  are  susceptible  of 
this  sort  of  influence  ;  and  while  the  offer  of  a  world  would  be  in- 
sufficient to  engage  them  to  recant  a  known  truth,  or  to  subscribe  an 
acknowledged  error,  they  are  often  retained  in  a  willing  captivity  to 
prejudices  and  opinions  which  have  no  other  support,  and  which,  if  they 
could  lose  sight  of  party  feelings,  they  would  almost  instantly  abandon. 
To  what  other  cause  can  we  ascribe  the  attachment  of  Fenelon  and  of 
Pascal,  men  of  exalted  genius  and  undoubted  piety,  to  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation  and  other  innumerable  absurdities  of  the  Church  of 
Rome]  It  is  this  alone  which  has  ensured  a  sort  of  immortality  to 
those  hideous  productions  of  the  human  mind,  the  shapeless  abortions 
of  night  and  darkness,  which  reason,  left  to  itself,  would  have  crushed  in 
the  moment  of  their  birth. 

It  is  observable  that  scientific  truths  make  their  way  in  the  world 
with  much  more  ease  and  rapidity  than  religious.  No  sooner  is  a 
philosophical  opinion  promulgated  than  it  undergoes  at  first  a  severe 
and  rigorous  scrutiny ;  and  if  it  is  found  to  coincide  with  the  results  of 
experiment,  it  is  speedily  adopted,  and  quietly  takes  its  place  among  the 
improvements  of  the  age.  Every  acquisition  of  this  kind  is  considered 
as  a  common  property ;  as  an  accession  to  the  general  stores  of  mental 
opulence.  Thus  the  knowledge  of  nature,  the  further  it  advances  from 
Its  head,  not  only  enlarges  its  channel  by  the  accession  of  tributary 
streams,  but  gradually  purifies  itself  from  the  mixture  of  error.  If  we 
search  for  the  reason  of  the  facility  with  which  scientific  improvements 
establish  themselves  in  preference  to  religious,  we  shall  find  it  in  the 
absence  of  combination,  in  there  being  no  class  of  men  closelv  united 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  353 

who  have  an  interest  real  or  imaginary  in  obstructing  their  progress 
We  hear,  it  is  true,  of  parties  in  the  repuWic  of  letters.;  but  if  such 
language  is  not  to  be  considered  as  entirely  allusive  and  metaphorical, 
the  ties  which  unite  them  are  so  slight  and  feeble,  compared  to  those 
which  attach  to  religious  societies,  as  scarcely  to  deserve  the  name. 
The  spirit  of  party  was  much  more  sensibly  felt  in  the  ancient  schools 
of  philosophy  than  in  the  modern,  on  account  of  philosophical  inquiries 
embracing  a  class  of  subjects  which  are  now  considered  as  no  longer 
belonging  to  its  province.  Before  revelation  appeared,  whatever  is  most 
deeply  interesting  in  the  contemplation  of  God,  of  man,  or  of  a  future 
state  fell  under  the  cognizance  of  philosophy ;  and  hence  it  was  cul- 
tivated with  no  nijconsiderable  portion  of  that  moral  sensibility,  that 
solicitude  and  alternation  of  hope  and  fear  respecting  an  invisible  state, 
which  are  now  absorbed  by  the  gospel.  From  that  time  the  departments 
of.  theology  and  philosophy  have  become  totally  distinct,  and  the  genius 
of  the  former  free  and  unfettered. 

In  religious  inquiries,  few  feel  themselves  at  liberty  to  follow  without 
restraint  the  light  of  evidence  and  the  guidance  of  truth,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  previous  engagement  with  a  party ;  and,  though  the 
attachment  to  it  might  originally  be  purely  voluntary,  and  still  continues 
such,  the  natural  love  of  consistency,  the  fear  of  shame,  together  with 
other  motives  sufficiently  obvious,  powerfully  contribute  to  perpetuate 
and  confirm  it.  When  an  attachment  to  the  fundamental  truths  of 
religion  is  the  basis  of  the  alliance,  the  steadiness,  constancy,  and  per- 
severance it  produces  are  of  the  utmost  advantage ;  and  hence  we 
admire  the  wisdom  of  Christ  in  employing  and  consecrating  the  social 
nature  of  man  in  the  formation  of  a  church.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to 
calculate  the  benefits  of  the  publicity  and  support  which  Christianity 
derives  from  that  source ;  nor  will  it  be  doubted  that  the  intrepidity 
evinced  in  confessing  the  most  obnoxious  truths,  and  enduring  all  the 
indignities  and  sufferings  which  result  from  their  promulgation,  is,  in  a 
great  "measure,  to  be  ascribed  to  the  same  cause.  The  concentration 
of  the  wills  and  efforts  of  Christians  rendered  the  church  a  powerful 
antagonist  to  the  world.  But  when  the  Christian  profession  became 
split  and  divided  into  separate  communities,  each  of  which,  along  with 
certain  fundamental  truths,  retained  a  portion  of  error,  its  reformation 
became  difficult,  just  in  proportion  to  the  strength  of  these  combina- 
tions. Religious  parties  imply  a  tacit  compact,  not  merely  to  sustain 
the  fundamental  truths  of  revelation  (which  was  the  original  design  of 
the  constitution  of  a  church),  but  also  to  uphold  the  incidental  peculiari- 
ties by  which  they  are  distinguished.  They  are  so  many  ramparts  or 
fortifications  erected  in  order  to  give  a  security  and  support  to  certain 
systems  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  beyond  what  they  derive  from  their 
native  force  and  evidence. 

The  difficulty  of  reforming  the  corruptions  of  Christianity  is  great,  in 
a  state  of  things  where  the  fear  of  being  eclipsed,  and  the  anxiety  in 
each  denomination  to  extend  itself  as  much  as  possible,  engage,  in  spite 
of  the  personal  piety  of  its  members,  all  the  solicitude  and  ardour 
which  are  not  immediately  devoted  to  the  most  essential  truths  ;  where 

Vol.  I.— Z 


354  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

correct  conceptions  on  subordinate  subjects  are  scarcely  aimed  at,  but 
the  particuhij  views  which  tlie  party  has  adopted  are  either  objects  of 
indolent  acquiescence  or  zealous  attachment.  In  such  a  state,  opnuons 
are  no  otherwise  regarded  than  as  they  affect  the  interest  of  a  party ; 
whatever  conduces  to  augment  its  numbers  or  its  credit  must  be  sup- 
ported at  all  events ;  whatever  is  of  a  contrary  tendency,  discoun- 
tenanced and  suppressed.  How  often  do  we  find  much  zeal  expended 
in  the  defence  of  sentiments,  recommended  neither  by  their  evidence 
nor  their  importance,  which,  could  their  incorporation  with  an  established 
creed  be  forgotten,  would  be  quietly  consigned  to  oblivion.  Thus  the 
waters  of  life,  instead  of  that  unobstructed  circulation  which  would 
diffuse  health,  fertility,  and  beauty,  are  diverted  from  their  channels  and 
drawn  into  pools  and  reservoirs,  where,  from  their  stagnant  state,  they 
acquire  feculence  and  pollution. 

The  inference  we  would  deduce  from  these  facts  is,  that  if  Ave  wish 
to  revive  an  exploded  truth,  or  to  restore  an  obsolete  practice,  it  is  of 
the  greatest  moment  to  present  it  to  the  public  in  a  manner  least  likely 
to  produce  the  collision  of  party.  But  this  is  equivalent  to  saying,  in 
other  Avords,  that  it  ought  not  to  be  made  the  basis  of  a  sect ;  for  the 
prejudices  of  party  are  ahvays  reciprocal,  and  in  no  instance  is  that 
great  laAv  of  motion  more  applicable,  that  "  reaction  is  always  equal  to 
action,  and  contrary  thereto."  While  it  is  maintained  as  a  private 
opinion,  by  Avhich  I  mean  one  not  characteristic  of  a  sect,  it  stands  upon 
its  proper  merits,  mingles  Avith  facility  in  different  societies,  and  in  pro- 
portion to  its  evidence,  and  the  attention  it  excites,  insinuates  itself  like 
leaven,  till  the  Avhole  is  leavened. 

Such,  it  should  seem,  Avas  the  conduct  of  the  Baptists  before  the  time 
ot  Luther.  It  appears  from  the  testimony  of  ecclesiastical  historians, 
that  their  sentiments  prevailed  to  a  considerable  extent  among  the  Wal- 
denses  and  Albigenses,  the  precursors  of  the  Reformation,  to  Avhom  the 
crime  of  anabaptism  is  frequently  ascribed  among  other  heresies  :  it  is 
probable,  however,  that  it  did  not  prevail  universally;  nor  is  there  the 
smallest  trace  to  be  discovered  of  its  being  made  a  term  of  communion. 
When  the  same  opinions  on  this  subject  Avere  publicly  revived  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  under  the  most  unfavourable  auspices,  and  allied  Avith 
turbulence,  anarchy,  and  blood,  no  Avonder  they  met  Avith  an  unwelcome 
reception,  and  that,  contemplated  through  such  a  medium,  they  incurred 
the  reprobation  of  the  Avise  and  good.  Whether  the  English  Baptists 
held  at  first  any  part  of  the  Avild  and  seditious  sentiments  of  the  German 
fanatics,  it  is  difficult  to  say  :  supposing  they  did  (of  Avhich  I  am  not 
aware  there  is  the  smallest  evidence),  it  is  certain  they  soon  abandoned 
them,  and  adopted  the  same  system  of  religion  with  other  nonconformists, 
except  on  the  article  of  baptism.  But  it  is  much  to  be  lamented  that 
they  continued  to  insist  on  that  article  as  a  term  of  communion,  by 
which  they  excited  the  resentment  of  other  denominations,  and  facili- 
tated the  means  of  confounding  them  Avith  the  German  Anabaptists, 
with  Avliom  they  possessed  nothing  in  common  besides  an  opinion  on 
one  particular  rite.  One  feature  of  resemblance,  hoAvever,  joined  to  an 
identity  of  name,  was  sufficient  to  surmount  in  the  public  feeling  the  im 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  355 

pression  of  all  the  points  of  discrepancy  or  of  contrast,  and  to  subject 
them  to  a  portion  of  the  infamy  attached  to  the  ferocious  insurgents  of 
Munster.  From  that  period,  the  success  of  the  Baptist  sentiments 
became  identified  with  the  growth  of  a  sect  which,  rising  under  the 
most  unfavourable  auspices,  was  entirely  destitute  of  the  resources  of 
wordly  influence  and  the  means  of  popular  attraction ;  and  an  opinion 
which,  by  its  native  simplicity  and  evidence,  is  entitled  to  command  the 
suffrages  of  the  world,  was  pent  up  and  confined  within  the  narrow  pre- 
cincts of  a  party,  where  it  laboured  under  an  insupportable  weight  of 
prejudice.  It  was  seldom  examined  by  an  impartial  appeal  to  the 
sacred  oracles,  or  regarded  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  .whimsical 
appendage  of  a  sect,  who  disgraced  themselves  at  the  outset  by  the 
most  criminal  excesses,  and  were  at  no  subsequent  period  sufficiently 
distinguished  by  talents  or  numbers  to  command  general  attention. 

■  Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  zeal  to  overshoot  its  mark.  If  a 
determined  enemy  of  the  Baptists  had  been  consulted  on  the  most 
efl!ectual  method  of  rendering  their  principles  unpopular,  there  is  little 
doubt  but  that  he  would  have  recommended  the  very  measures  we  have 
pursued  :  the  first  and  most  obvious  effect  of  which  has  been  to  regene- 
rate an  inconceivable  mass  of  prejudice  in  other  denominations.  To 
proclaim  to  the  world  our  determination  to  treat  as  "  heathen  men  and 
publicans"  all  who  are  not  immediately  prepared  to  concur  with  our 
views  of  baptism,  what  is  it  less  than  the  language  of  hostility  and 
defiance ;  admirably  adapted  to  discredit  the  party  which  exhibits,  and 
the  principles  which  have  occasioned,  such  a  conduct  ?  By  thus  in- 
vesting these  principles  with  an  importance  which  does  not  belong  to 
them,  by  making  them  coextensive  with  the  existence  of  a  church, 
they  have  indisposed  men  to  listen  to  the  evidence  by  which  they  are 
supported ;  and  attempting  to  establish  by  authority  the  unanimity 
which  should  be  the  fruit  of  conviction,  have  deprived  themselves  of 
the  most  effectual  means  of  producing  it.  To  say  that  such  a  mode  of 
proceeding  is  not  adapted  to  convince,  that  refusing  Pedobaptists  the 
right  of  communion  has  no  tendency  to  produce  a  change  of  views,  is 
to  employ  most  inadequate  language  :  it  has  a  powerful  tendency  to  the 
contrary;  it  can  scarcely  fail  to  produce  impressions  most  unfavourable 
to  the  system  with  which  it  is  connected,  impressions  which  the  gentlest 
minds  find  it  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the  effects  of  insult  and  degra- 
dation. 

It  is  not,  however,  merely  by  this  sort  of  reaction  that  prejudice  is 
excited  unfavourable  to  the  extension  of  our  principles ;  but  by  the  in- 
stinctive feelings  of  self-defence.  Upon  the  system  of  strict  commu- 
nion, the  moment  a  member  of  a  Pedobaptist  church  becomes  convinced 
of  the  invalidity  of  his  infant  baptism,  he  must  deem  it  obligatory  upon 
him  to  relinquish  his  station,  and  dissolve  his  connexion  with  the 
church ;  and  as  superiority  of  ministerial  talents  and  character  is  a 
mere  matter  of  preference,  but  duty  a  matter  of  necessity,  he  must  at 
all  events  connect  himself  with  a  Baptist  congregation  whatever  sacri- 
fice it  may  cost  him,  and  whatever  loss  he  may  incur.  Though  his 
pastor  should  possess  the  profundity  and  unction  of  an  Edwards,  or 

Z  2 


356  TERMS  OF  COMMUINION. 

the  eloquence  of  a  Spencer,  he  must  quit  him  for  the  most  superficial 
declaimer,  ratlier  than  be  guilty  of  spiritual  fornication.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible for  principles  fraught  with  such  a  corollary  not  to  be  contem- 
plated with  anxiety  by  our  Pedobaptist  bretliren,  who,  however  they 
might  be  disposed  to  exercise  candour  towards  our  sentiments,  con- 
sidered in  themselves,  cannot  fail  to  perceive  the  most  disorganizing  ten- 
dency in  this  their  usual  appendage.  Viewed  in  such  a  connexion,  their 
prevalence  is  a  blow  at  the  very  root  of  Pedobaptist  societies,  since  the 
moment  we  succeed  in  making  a  convert,  we  disqualify  him  for  con- 
tinuing a  member.  We  deposite  a  seed  of  alienation  and  discord, 
which  threatens  their  dissolution,  so  that  we  need  not  be  surprised  if 
other  denominations  should  be  tempted  to  compare  us  to  the  Eu- 
phratean  horsemen  in  the  Apocalypse,  who  are  described  as  "  having 
tails  like  scorpions,  and  with  them  they  did  hurt." 

To  these  causes  we  must  undoubtedly  impute  the  superior  degree  of 
prejudice  displayed  by  that  class  of  Christians  to  whom  Ave  make  the 
nearest  approach,  compared  to  such  as  are  separated  from  us  by  a  wider 
interval.  A  disposition  to  fair  and  liberal  concession  on  the  points  at 
issue  is  almost  confined  to  the  members  of  established  churches  ;  and 
while  the  most  celebrated  Episcopal  divines,  both  Popish  and  Pro- 
testant, as  well  as  those  of  the  Scotch  church,  feel  no  hesitation  in 
acknowledging  the  import  of  the  word  baptize  is  to  immerse,  that  such 
was  the  primitive  mode  of  baptism,  and  that  the  right  of  infants  to  that 
ordinance  is  rather  to  be  sustained  on  the  ground  of  ancient  usage  than 
the  authority  of  Scripture,  our  dissenting  brethren  are  displeased  with 
these  concessions,  deny  there  is  any  proof  that  immersion  was  ever  used 
m  primitive  times,  and  speak  of  the  extension  of  baptism  to  infants  with 
as  much  confidence  as  though  it  were  among  the  plainest  and  most  unde- 
niable dictates  of  revelation.* 

To  such  a  height  has  this  animosity  been  carried,  that  there  are  not 
wanting  persons  who  seem  anxious  to  revive  the  recollection  of  Munster, 
and  by  republishing  the  narrative  of  the  enormities  perpetrated  there,  under 
the  title  of  the  History  of  the  Baptists,  to  implicate  us  in  the  infamy  and 
guilt  of  those  transactions.     While  we  must  reprobate  such  a  spirit,  we 

*  Campbell,  speaking  of  the  authors  of  the  vulgar  version,  observes, — "  Some  vrords  they  have 
"ansferred  from  the  original  into  their  language ;  others  they  have  translated.  But  it  would  not 
be  always  easy  to  find  their  reason  for  making  this  difference.  Thus,  the  word  TrcpiToi^ri  they  have 
translated  circumcisio,  which  exactly  corresponds  in  etymology  :  but  the  word  PdirTicua  they  have 
retained,  changing  only  the  letters  from  Greek  to  Roman.  Yet  the  latter  was  jnst  as  susceptible  of 
a  literal  version  into  Latin  as  the  former.  Immersio,  tinclio,  answers  as  exactly  in  one  case,  as  cir- 
cmncisio  in  the  other."  A  little  after  he  observes,  "  T  should  think  the  word  immersion  (which,  though 
of  Latin  origin,  is  an  English  noun,  regularly  formed  from  the  word  lo  immerse)  a  belter  Engli-sh  name 
than  baptism,  were  we  now  at  liberty  to  make  a  choice  :  but  we  are  not." — Preliminary  Dissertations 
to  the  Translation  of  the  Gospels,  p.  354,  355.  4to  ed.  He  elsewhere  mentions  it  as  one  of  the 
strongest  instances  of  prejudice,  that  he  has  known  some  persons  of  piety  who  have  denied  that  the 
word  baptize  signifies  to  immerse. 

With  respect  to  the  subject,  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that  the  authors  of  the  celebrated  scheme 
of  popish  doctrine  and  discipline  called  the  I nterirn  enumerate  the  baptism  of  infants  among  tradi- 
tions, and  that  in  the  most  emphatic  manner.  For,  having  stated  that  the  church  has  two  rules  of 
faith.  Scripture  and  tradition,  they  observe,  after  treating  of  the  first,  "ecclesia  habet  quoque  tradi- 
tiones,  inter  alia  baptismus  parvulorum,"  &c.  They  mention,  however,  no  other;  from  whence 
it  is  natural  to  infer  that  they  considered  this  as  the  strongest  instance  of  that  species  of  rules.  The 
total  silence  of  Scripture  has  induced  not  a  few  of  the  most  illustrious  scholars  to  consider  infant 
baptism  not  of  Divine  right ;  among  whom,  were  we  disposed  to  boast  of  great  names,  we  might 
mention  Salmasius,  Suicer,  and,  above  all.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who,  if  we  may  believe  the  honest 
Whiston,  frequently  declared  to  him  his  conviction  that  the  Baptists  were  the  only  Christians  who 
had  not  symbolized  with  the  Church  of  Rome.— See  Wkiston's  Memoirs  of  his  own  Life 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  357 

ire  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  the  practice  of  exclusive  communioi* 
s  admirably  adapted  to  excite  it  in  minds  of  a  certain  order. 

That  practice  is  not  less  objectionable  on  another  ground.  By  dis- 
couraging Pedobaptists  from  frequenting  our  assemblies,  it  militates 
against  the  most  effectual  means  of  diffusing  the  sentiments  which  we 
consider  most  consonant  to  the  sacred  oracles.  It  cannot  be  expected 
that  pious  worshippers  will  attend,  except  from  absolute  necessity, 
where  they  are  detained,  if  we  may  so  speak,  in  the  courts  of  the  gen- 
tiles, and  denied  access  to  the  interior  privileges  of  the  sanctuary. 

The  congregations,  accordingly,  where  this  practice  prevails,  are 
almost  entirely  composed  of  persons  of  our  own  persuasion,  who  are 
so  far  from  requiring  an  additional  stimulus,  that  it  is  much  oftener 
necessary  to  restrain  than  to  excite  their  ardour,  while  the  only  description 
of  persons  who  could  be  possibly  benefited  by  instruction  are  out  of  its 
reach  ;  compelled  by  this  intolerant  practice  to  join  societies  where  they 
will  hear  nothing  but  what  is  adapted  to  confirm  them  in  their  ancient 
prejudices.  Thus,  an  impassable  barrier  is  erected  between  the  Bap- 
tists and  other  denominations,  in  consequence  of  which  few  opportu- 
nities are  afforded  of  trying  the  effect  of  calm  and  serious  argumentation 
in  situations  where  alone  it  could  prove  effectual.  In  those  Baptist 
churches  in  which  an  opposite  plan  has  been  adopted,  the  attendance 
of  such  as  are  not  of  our  sentiments,  meeting  with  no  discouragement, 
is  often  extensive ;  Baptists  and  Pedobaptists,  by  participating  in  the 
same  privileges,  become  closely  united  in  the  ties  of  friendship ;  of 
which  the  effect  is  uniformly  found  to  be  a  perpetual  increase  in  the 
number  of  the  former,  compared  to  the  latter,  till  in  some  societies  the 
opposite  sentiments  have  nearly  subsided  and  disappeared. 

Nor  is  this  more  than  might  be  expected  from  the  nature  of  things, 
supposing  us  to  have  truth  on  our  side.  For,  admitting  this  to  be  the 
case,  what  can  give  permanence  to  the  sentiments  to  which  we  are 
opposed,  except  a  recumbent  indolence  or  an  active  prejudice  ?  And  is 
it  not  evident  that  the  practice  of  exclusive  communion  has  the  strongest 
tendency  to  foster  both  those  evils,  the  former  by  withdrawing,  I  might 
say  repelling,  the  erroneous  from  the  best  means  of  instruction, — the 
latter  by  the  apparent  harshness  and  severity  of  such  a  proceeding  ? 
It  is  not  by  keeping  at  a  distance  from  mankind  that  we  must  expect  to 
acquire  an  ascendency  over  them,  but  by  approaching,  by  conciliating 
them,  and  securing  a  passage  to  their  understanding  through  the  me- 
dium of  their  hearts.  Truth  will  glide  into  the  mind  through  the  channel 
of  the  affections,  which,  were  it  to  approach  in  the  naked  majesty  of 
evidence,  would  meet  with  a  certain  repulse. 

Betl*aying  a  total  ignorance  or  forgetfulness  of  these  indubitable  facts, 
what  is  the  conduct  of  our  opponents  1  They  assume  a  menacing  aspect, 
proclaim  themselves  the  only  true  church,  and  assert  that  they  alone 
are  entitled  to  the  Christian  sacraments.  None  are  alarmed  at  this 
language,  none  are  induced  to  submit ;  but  turning  with  a  smile  or  a 
frown  to  gentler  leaders,  they  leave  us  to  triumph  without  a  combat, 
and  to  dispute  without  an  opponent. 

If  we  consider  the  way  in  which  men  are  led  to  form  just  conclu- 


358  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

sions  on  the  principal  subjects  of  controversy,  we  shall  not  often  ftnd 
that  it  is  the  fruit  of  an  independent  effort  of  mind,  determined  to  search 
for  truth  in  iier  most  hidden  recesses,  and  discover  her  under  every 
disguise.  The  number  of  sucli  elevated  spirits  is  small ;  and  though 
evidence  is  the  only  source  of  rational  conviction,  a  variety  of  favour- 
able circumstances  usually  contributes  to  bring  it  into  contact  with  the 
mind,  such  as  frequent  intercourse,  a  favourable  disposition  towards  the 
party  which  maintains  it,  habits  of  deference  and  respect,  and  gratitude 
for  benefits  received.  The  practice  of  confining  the  communion  to  our 
own  denomination  seems  studiously  contrived  to  preclude  us  from  these 
advantages,  and  to  transfer  them  to  the  opposite  side. 

The  policy  of  intolerance  is  exactly  proportioned  to  the  capacity  of 
inspiring  fear.  The  Church  of  Rome  for  many  ages  practised  it  with 
infinite  advantage,  because  she  possessed  ample  means  of  intimidation 
Her  pride  grew  with  her  success,  her  intolerance  with  her  pride ;  and 
she  did  not  aspire  to  the  lofty  pretension  of  being  the  only  true  church 
till  she  saw  monarchs  at  her  feet  and  held  kingdoms  in  chains ;  till 
she  was  flushed  with  victory,  giddy  with  her  elevation,  and  drunk  with 
the  blood  of  saints.  But  Avhat  was  policy  in  her  would  be  the  height 
of  infatuation  in  us,  who  are  neither  entitled  by  our  situation  nor  by 
our  crimes  to  aspire  to  this  guilty  pre-eminence.  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  few  of  our  brethren  have  duly  reflected  on  the  strong  resemblance 
which  subsists  between  the  pretensions  of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the 
principles  implied  in  strict  communion ;  both  equally  intolerant ;  the 
one  armed  with  pains  and  penalties,  the  other,  I  trust,  disdaining  such 
aid  ;  the  one  the  intolerance  of  power,  the  other  of  weakness. 

From  a  full  conviction  that  our  views  as  a  denomination  correspond 
with  the  dictates  of  Scripture,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  entertain  a 
doubt  of  their  ultimate  prevalence ;  but  unless  we  retrace  our  steps, 
and  cultivate  a  cordial  union  with  our  fellow-christians,  I  greatly  ques- 
tion whether  their  success  will  in  any  degree  be  ascribable  to  our  eflbrts. 
It  is  much  more  probable  that  the  light  will  arise  in  another  quarter, 
from  persons  by  whom  we  are  unknown,  but  who,  in  consequence  of  an 
unction  from  the  Holy  One,  are  led  to  examine  the  Scripture  with  per- 
fect impartiality,  and  in  the  ardour  of  their  pursuit  after  truth,  alike  to 
overlook  the  misconduct  of  those  who  have  opposed  and  of  those  who 
have  maintained  it. 

Happily,  the  final  triumph  of  truth  is  not  dependent  on  human  modes 
of  exhibition.  Man  is  the  recipient,  not  the  author,  of  it ;  it  partakes 
of  the  nature  of  the  Deity ;  it  is  his  offspring,  its  indissoluble  relation 
to  whom  is  a  surer  pledge  of  its  perpetuity  and  support  than  finite 
power  or  policy.  While  we  are  at  a  certainty  respecting  the  finaMssue, 
"  the  times  and  the  seasons  God  hath  put  in  his  own  power  ;"  nor  are 
we  ever  more  liable  to  err  than  when,  in  surveying  the  purposes  of  God. 
we  descend  from  the  elevation  of  general  views  to  a  minute  specifica- 
tion of  times  and  instruments.  How  long  the  ordinance  of  baptism  in 
its  purity  and  simplicity  may  be  doomed  to  neglect  it  is  not  for  us  to 
conjecture ;  but  of  this  we  are  fully  persuaded,  it  will  never  be  gene- 
rally restored  to  the   church  through  the  medium  of  a  party.     This 


TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  359 

mode  of  procedure. has  been  already  sufficiently  tried,  and  is  found 
utterly  ineifectual. 

The  labour  bestowed  upon  these  sheets  has  not  arisen  from  an  in- 
difference to  the  interests  of  truth,  but  from  a  sincere  wish  to  promote 
them,  by  disengaging  it  from  the  unnatural  confinement  in  which  it  has 
been  detained  by  the  injudicious  conduct  of  its  advocates.  How  far  the 
reasoning  adduced  or  the  spirit  displayed  on  this  subject  is  entitled  to 
approbation  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  religious  public.  If  any 
offence  has  been  given  by  the  appearance  of  unbecoming  severity,  it 
will  give  me  real  concern  ;  and  the  more  so  because  there  are  not  a  few 
among  our  professed  opponents  in  this  controversy  to  whom  I  look  up 
with  undissembled  esteem  and  veneration. 

Having  omitted  notliing  which  appeared  essentially  connected  with 
the  subject,  I  hasten  to  close  this  disquisition;  previously  to  which  it 
may  not  be  improper  briefly  to  recall  the  attention  to  the  principal  topics 
of  argument.  We  have  endeavoured  to  show  that  the  practice  of  strict 
communion  derives  no  support  from  the  supposed  priority  of  baptism  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  order  of  institution,  which  order  is  exactly 
the  reverse;  that  it  is  not  countenanced  by  the  tenor  of  tlie  apostles' 
commission,  nor  by  apostolic  precedent,  the  spirit  of  which  is  in  our 
favour,  proceeding  on  principles  totally  dissimilar  to  the  case  under 
discussion  ;  that  the  opposite  practice  is  enforced  by  the  obligations  of 
Christian  charity  ;  that  it  is  indubitably  comprehended  within  the  canon 
which  enjoins  forbearance  towards  mistaken  brethren ;  that  the  system 
of  our  opponents  unchurches  every  Pedobaptist  community  ;  that  it  rests 
on  no  general  principle ;  that  it  attempts  to  establish  an  impossible 
medium ;  that  it  inflicts  a  punishment  which  is  capricious  and  unjust ; 
and  finally,  that  by  fomenting  prejudice  and  precluding  the  most 
effectual  means  of  conviction,  it  defeats  its  own  purpose. 

Should  the  reasoning  under  any  one  of  these  heads  be  found  to  be 
conclusive,  however  it  may  fail  in  others,  it  will  go  far  towards  estab- 
lishing our  leading  position,  that  no.  church  has  a  right  to  establish 
terms  of  communion  tvhich  are  not  terms  of  salvation.  With  high  con- 
sideration of  the  talents  of  many  of  my  brethren  who  differ  from  me, 
I  have  yet  no  apprehension  that  the  sum  total  of  the  argument  admits  a 
satisfactory  reply. 

A  tender  consideration  of  human  imperfection  is  not  merely  the  dic- 
tate of  revelation,  but  the  law  of  nature,  exemplified  in  the  most 
striking  manner  in  the  conduct  of  Him  whom  Ave  all  profess  to  follow. 
How  wide  the  interval  which  separated  his  religious  knowledge  and 
attainments  from  that  of  his  disciples  ;  he,  the  fountain  of  illumination, 
they  encompassed  with  infirmities  !  But  did  he  recede  from  them  on 
that  account  ?  No :  he  drew  the  bond  of  union  closer,  imparted  suc- 
cessive streams  of  effulgence,  till  he  incorporated  his  spirit  with  theirs, 
and  elevated  them  into  a  nearer  resemblance  of  himself.  In  imitating 
by  our  conduct  towards  our  mistaken  brethren  this  great  exemplar,  we 
cannot  err.  By  walking  together  with  them  as  far  as  we  are  agreed, 
our  agreement  will   extend,  our  differences  lessen,  and   love,  which 


360  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

rejoiceth  in  the  truth,  will  gradually  open  our  hearts  to  higher  and  noblei 
inspirations. 

Miolit  we  indulge  a  hope  that  not  only  our  denomination,  but  every 
other  desi-ription  of  Christians,  would  act  upon  these  principles,  we 
should  hail  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day,  and  consider  it  as  a  nearer  ap- 
proaih  to  tlie  ultimate  triumph  of  the  church  than  the  annals  of  time 
have  vet  recorded.  In  the  accomplishment  of  our  Saviour's  prayer,  we 
should  beliold  a  demonstration  of  the  divinity  of  his  mission,  wliich  the 
most  impious  could  not  resist ;  we  should  behold  in  the  church  a 
peaceful  haven,  inviting  us  to  retire  from  the  tossings  and  perils  of  this 
unquiet  ocean  to  a  sacred  enclosure,  a  sequestered  spot,  which  the 
storms  and  tempests  of  the  world  were  not  permitted  to  invade. 

"  Intus  aqua;  dulces,  vivoque  sedilia  saxo: 
Nympharum  doitius.     Hic  fessas  non  vincula  naves 
UUa  tenent :  unco  non  adligat  anchora  morsu." — Virgil. 

The  genius  of  the  gospel,  let  it  once  for  all  be  remembered,  is  not 
ceremonial  but  spiritual,  consisting,  not  in  meats  or  drinks,  or  outward 
observances,  but  in  the  cultivation  of  such  interior  graces  as  compose 
the  essence  of  virtue,  perfect  the  character,  and  purify  the  heart. 
These  form  the  soul  of  religion ;  all  the  rest  are  but  her  terrestrial 
attire,  which  she  will  lay  aside  when  she  passes  the  threshold  of 
eternity.  When,  therefore,  the  obligations  of  humility  and  love  come 
into  competition  with  a  punctual  observance  of  external  rites,  the 
genius  of  religion  will  easily  determine  to  which  we  should  incline : 
but  when  the  question  is,  not  whether  we  shall  attend  to  them  ourselves, 
but  whether  we  shall  enforce  them  on  others,  the  answer  is  still  more 
ready.  All  attempts  to  urge  men  forward,  even  in  the  right  path,  be- 
yond the  measure  of  their  light,  are  impracticable  in  our  situation,  if 
they  were  lawful ;  and  unlawful,  if  they  were  practicable.  Augment 
their  light,  conciliate  their  affections,  and  they  will  follow  of  their  own 
accord. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

An  objection  to  the  hypothesis  which  assigns  the  origin  of  Christian 
baptism  to  the  commission  which  the  apostles  received  at  our  Lord's 
resurrection,  may  possibly  be  urged  from  the  baptisms  performed  by 
his  disciples  during  his  personal  ministry ;  and  as  no  notice  is  taken 
of  that  circumstance  in  the  body  of  the  work,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  the 
following  observations  to  the  reader : — We  are  informed  by  one  of  the 
evangelists,  that  Christ,  by  the  instrumentality  of  his  disciples,  at  one 
period  "  made  and  baptized  more  disciples  than  John."*  The  following 
remarks  may  possibly  cast  some  light  on  this  subject  :-«- 

*  John  iv.  1 


,       TERMS  OF  COMMUNION.  361 

1.  A  Divine  commission  was  given  to  the  son  of  Zechariah  to  an- 
nounce the  speedy  manifestation  of  the  Messiah^  or,  which  is  equiva- 
lent, to  declare  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand,"  with  an 
injunction  solemnly  to  immerse  in  water  as  many  as,  in  consequence 
of  that  intelligence,  professed  repentance  and  reformation  of  life  ;  and 
as  he  was  the  only  person  who  had  been  known  to  initiate  his  disciples 
by  that  rite,  it  was  natural  for  him  to  be  distinguished  by  the  appella- 
tion of  the  Baptist,  or  tiie  Immerser.  The  Scriptures  are  totally  silent 
respecting  any  mission  to  baptize  apart  from  his.  It  is  by  no  means 
certain,  however,  that  he  was  the  only  person  who  performed  that  cere- 
mony ;  indeed,  when  we  consider  the  prodigious  multitudes  who  flocked 
to  him,  the  "  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  Judea,  and  all  the  region  round 
about  Jordan,"  it  seems  scarcely  practicable :  he  most  probably  em- 
ployed coadjutors,  though,  the  practice  having  originated  with  him,  it 
was  foreign  to  the  purpose  of  the  evangelists  to  notice  that  circumstance. 

2.  Our  Lord,  who  had  already  eviu'^ed  the  profoundest  respect  to  his 
mission  by  receiving  baptism  at  his  hands,  was,  in  consequence  of  his 
being  the  Messiah,  undoubtedly  authoi-ized  personally  to  perform  any 
religious  rite  or  office  which  was  at  that  time  in  force,  as  well  as  to 
delegate  to  others  the  power  of  performing  it ;  and  as  immersion,  in 
token  of  repentance  and  preparation  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  then  at 
hand,  was  an  important  branch  of  the  religion  then  obligatory,  it  was 
with  the  greatest  propriety  that  he  not  only  submitted  to  it  himself,  but 
authorized  his  disciples  to  perform  it.  This,  however,  is  by  no  means 
sufficient  to  constitute  a  distinct  rite  or  ordinance  ;  and  since  it  was  not 
accompanied  with  a  distinct  signification,  it  could  not  be  considered  as 
originating  a  new  constitution,  but  as  a  mere  co-operation  with  his  fore- 
runner in  one  and  the  same  work. 

3.  We  have  already  shown  at  large  that  the  principal  difference 
between  John's  baptism  and  that  which  the  apostles  were  commissioned 
to  perform  after  our  Saviour's  ascension  consisted  in  the  former  not 
being  celebrated  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  But  there  is  just  as  much 
difficulty  in  supposing  it  performed  by  his  disciples  in  that  name,  during 
his  abode  on  earth,  as  by  his  forerunner.  It  would  have  equally  de- 
feated the  purpose  of  that  caution  which  he  uniformly  maintained  ;  and 
it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  he  would  strictly  charge  his  disciples  to  tell 
no  man  that  he  was  the  Christ,  while  he  authorized  them  to  disclose 
that  very  secret  to  the  mixed  multitude  as  often  as  they  baptized ;  nor 
could  the  use  of  his  name  in  that  ordinance  be  separated  from  such  a 
disclosure. 

4.  In  addition  to  this,  it  must  be  remembered  that  John  and  our  Lord 
(by  the  hands  of  his  disciples)  both  baptized  at  the  same  period :  their 
ministry  was  contemporary.  Now  if  we  assert  that  our  Lord  enjoined 
one  confession  of  faith  in  baptism,  and  John  another,  we  shall  have 
different  dispensations  of  religion  subsisting  at  the  same  time,  and  must 
suppose  the  people  were  under  an  obligation  to  believe  one  thing  as 
the  disciples  of  John,  and  another  as  the  disciples  of  Christ.  But  this 
it  is  impossible  to  admit.  There  is  unquestionably,  at  all  seasons,  a 
perfect  harmony  in  the  economies  of  relieion,  so  that  two  different 


362  TERMS  OF  COMMUNION. 

ones  are  never  in  force  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The  first  ceasea 
when  the  next  succeeds,  just  as  Judaism  was  abolished  by  Christianity, 
and  the  patriarchal  dispensation  superseded  by  Judaism.  Unless  we 
are  prepared  to  assert  that  the  dispensations  of  religion  are  not  obliga- 
tory, one  light  in  which  they  must  be  considered  is  that  of  diflerent 
laws,  or  codes  of  law ;  but  it  is  essential  to  the  nature  of  laws  that  tlie 
new  one,  except  it  be  merely  declaratory,  invariably  repeals  the  old. 
In  whatever  particular  it  differs,  it  necessarily  abolishes  or  annuls  the 
former.  But  as  John  contiimed  to  baptize  by  Divine  authority  at  the 
same  time  ■with  the  disciples  of  our  Saviour,  it  is  evident  his  institution 
was  not  superseded  ;  consequently,  it  was  of  such  a  nature  that  it  could 
subsist  in  conjunction  widi  the  baptism  performed  by  our  Lord  through 
the  hands  of  his  apostles.  But,  for  the  reason  already  alleged,  this  could 
not  have  been  the  case,  unless  it  had  been  one  and  the  same  thing.  The 
inference  I  wish  to  deduce  from  the  whole  is,  that  the  baptisms  cele- 
brated by  Christ's  disciples  during  his  personal  muiistry  in  no  respect 
diifered  from  John's,  either  in  the  action  itself  or  in  the  import,  but 
were  merely  a  joint  execution  of  the  same  work ;  agreeably  to  which, 
we  find  a  perfect  identity  in  the  language  which  our  Saviour  enjoined 
his  disciples  to  use,  and  in  the  preaching  of  John:  "Repent  ye,  for  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand."  Whatever  information  our  Lord  imparted 
to  his  disciples  beyond  that  which  was  communicated  by  his  forerunner 
(which  we  all  know  was  much)  was  given  in  detached  portions,  at 
distinct  intervals,  and  was  never  imbodied  or  incorporated  with  any 
positive  institution  till  after  his  ascension,  which  may  be  considered  as 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  dispensation  in  its  strictest  sense. 


THE 

ESSENTIAL  DIFFERENCE 

BETWEEN 

CHRISTIAN    BAPTISM 

AND    THE 

BAPTISM  OF  JOHN, 

MORE  FULLY  STATED  AND  CONFIRMED ; 
IN  REPLY  TO  A  PAMPHLET,  ENTITLED  "  A  PLEA  FOR  PRIMITIVE  COMMUNION.' 


[Pdblished  in  ISld.J 


PREFACE, 


Whether  the  writer  of  the  following  pages  has  acted  judiciously 
m  noticing  the  anonymous  author  of  the  Plea^  &c.  it  is  not  for  him  to 
determine.  He  was  certainly  not  induced  to  reply  by  any  apprehension 
that  the  arguments  of  his  opponent  vv'ould  produce  much  effect  on  candid 
and  enlightened  minds :  but  he  recollected  that  what  is  not  answered 
is  often  deemed  unanswerable.  He  has  confined  himself,  as  the  reader 
will  perceive,  to  that  branch  of  the  controversy  which  relates  to  the 
baptism  of  John;  the  consideration  of  the  remaining  parts  will  more 
properly  occur  in  reply  to  a  work  which  is  already  announced  to  the 
public  by  a  person  of  distinguished  reputation.  With  an  answer  to  that 
publication  it  is  the  decided  resolution  of  this  authf^>  *«  termmaie  hn 
part  of  the  controversy. 

Leigester,  February  14.  1816. 


TIIE 
ESSENTIAL  DIFFERENCE 

BETWEEN 

CHRISTIAN    BAPTISM 

AND   THE 

BAPTISM  OF  JOHN. 


Though  the  author  of  the  "  Plea  for  Primitive  Communion"  has 
not  thought  fit  to  annex  his  name  to  that  publication,  as  truth  alone  is 
the  legitimate  object  of  controversy,  his  claim  to  attention  may  be  justly 
considered  as  little,  if  at  all,  impaired  by  that  omission.  Religious  inquiry 
is  an  aftair  of  principles,  not  of  persons  ;  and  under  whatever  shape  an 
author  chooses  to  present  himself  to  the  public,  he  is  entitled  to  notice 
in  proportion  to  the  force  of  his  conceptions  and  the  candour  of  his 
spirit.  How  far  the  author  under  present  consideration  is  possessed  of 
these  qualities  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  an  impartial  public. 

As  he  has  confined  nearly  his  whole  attention  to  the  question  of  the 
identity  of  John's  baptism  with  the  ordinance  now  in  force,  without 
pretending  to  enter  into  the  general  merits  of  the  controversy,  and  this 
is  a  question  which  admits  of  separate  discussion,  and  is  in  itself  of 
some  moment,  the  following  pages  will  be  devoted  to  a  defence  of  the 
sentiments  which  have  been  already  advanced  on  that  subject. 

Previously  to  this,  however,  the  patience  of  the  reader  is  entreated  for 
a  few  moments,  while  we  endeavour  clearly  to  state  the  hearing  of  this 
question  on  the  controversy  with  which  it  has  been  connected.  It  was 
in  deference  to  the  sentiments  of  his  opponents,  rather  than  his  own, 
that  the  author  was  induced  to  bestow  so  much  attention  upon  it  in  his 
former  treatise,  persuaded  as  he  is  that  its  connexion  with  the  point  in 
debate  is  casual  and  incidental,  rather  than  real  and  intrinsic  ;  since  the 
only  possible  advantage  to  the  cause  of  mixed  communion,  resulting 
from  its  decision,  is  the  overthrow  of  an  argamient  most  feebly  con- 
structed. To  be  convinced  of  this,  it  is  only  necessary  to  remember 
that  the  admission  of  what  our  opponents  contend  for  would  merely 
prove  that  the  ordinance  of  baptism  was  promulgated  at  an  earlier  period 
than  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  in  determining  a  question  of  duty  resulting 
from  positive  laws,  the  era  of  their  promulgation  is  a  consideration 
totally  foreign ;  we  have  merely  to  consider  what  is  enjoined,  and  to 
what  description  of  persons  or  things  the  regulation  applies,  without 
troubling  ourselves  to  inquire  into  the  chronological  order  of  its  enact- 
ment.   In  the  details  of  civil  life,  no  man  thinks  of  regulating  his  actions 


368  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

by  an  appeal  to  the  respective  dates  of  the  existmg  laws,  but  solely  uy 
a  regard  to  their  just  interpretation.;  and  Avere  it  once  admitted  as  a 
maxim  that  tlie  particular  law  latest  enacted  must  invariably  be  last 
obeved,  the  aflairs  of  mankind  would  fall  into  utter  confusion.  It 
would  be  the  highest  presumption  to  pretend  to  penetrate  so  far  into  the 
breast  of  the  legislator,  and  into  reasons  of  state,  as  to  form  a  conjecture 
on  the  comparative  importance  of  our  duties,  or  the  respective  relations 
wliich  they  bear  to  each  other,  by  an  appeal  to  the  disiinct  periods  in 
which  the  laws  were  promulgated ;  nor  is  there  any  absurdity  in 
supposing  it  possible  that,  for  the  wisest  purposes,  the  law  which  is  last 
enacted  may  prescribe  the  performance  of  an  action  antecedently  to  a 
different  one  enjoined  by  a  prior  enactment.  Besides,  the  most  exten- 
sive branch  of  the  system  of  rules  which  is  in  force  in  this,  and  perhaps 
in  most  other  countries,  arises  out  of  immemorial  customs,  which  it 
would  baffle  the  profoundest  antiquarian  to  trace  to  their  origin  ;  whence 
it  is  evident  that  the  principle  in  question  is  necessarily  excluded  from 
the  widest  department  of  legal  obligations.  It  is  a  principle  as  repug- 
nant to  the  nature  of  Divine  as  it  is  to  human  legislation.  It  appears 
from  the  history  of  the  patriarchs,  that  sacrificial  rites  were  ordained 
much  earlier  than  circumcision,  but  no  sooner  was  the  latter  enjoined, 
than  it  demanded  the  earliest  attention  ;  and  the  offerings  prescribed  on 
the  birth  of  a  child  did  not  precede  but  were  subsequent  to  the  ceremony 
of  circumcision. 

In  the  case  of  moral  obligations,  no  one  pretends  that  their  reciprocal 
relation  and  dependence  is  to  be  ascertained  by  an  appeal  to  the  distinct 
periods  of  their  institution :  their  co-existence  with  human  nature  pre- 
cludes the  possibility  of  applying  such  a  test ;  and  he  who  consults 
impartially  the  dictates  of  conscience,  confirmed  and  enlightened  by 
revelation,  will  seldom  feel  himself  embarrassed  with  respect  either  to 
the  nature  or  the  order  of  his  duties. 

In  the  case  of  positive  duties,  that  is,  such  as  result  entirely  from  the 
revealed  will  of  God,  and  with  respect  to  which  the  voice  of  nature  is 
silent,  how  far  they  are  so  inseparably  linked  together  as  to  form  a 
moral  whole,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  omission  of  one  part  renders  an 
attention  to  the  other  a  nullity,  must  depend  entirely  on  the  language 
of  the  institute.  To  attempt  to  establish  any  conclusion  where  that  is 
silent  is  at  once  to  incur  the  censure  justly  attached  to  the  application 
of  hypothesis  in  the  interpretation  of  positive  laws,  with  this  additional 
aggravation,  that  the  hypothesis  adopted  on  the  present  occasion  is  at 
least  as  precarious  and  unfounded  as  the  worst  of  those  by  which  the 
advocates  of  infant  baptism  have  attempted  to  vindicate  their  practice. 
With  unparalleled  inconsistency,  while  the  champions  of  strict  com- 
munion affect  on  the  subject  of  baptism  the  utmost  veneration  for  the 
letter  of  Scripture,  they  are  driven  in  support  of  their  sentiments  to 
appeal,  not  to  ivhat  is  enjoined — not  to  a  syllable  of  Scripture,  but  to  a 
chronological  deduction  of  positive  rites ;  a  hard  necessity  surely,  and 
the  more  so  when  it  will  appear  in  the  sequel  that  this  their  forlorn 
post  is  untenable. 

Before  we  proceed  to  notice  the  objections  of  the  author  of  the  Plea 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN  369 

10  the  statements  which  have  been  made  on  the  subject  of  John's 
baptism,  it  will  be  necessary  briefly  to  recapitulate  the  grounds  on 
which  it  was  affirmed  to  be  essentially  distinct  from  the  ordinance  now 
in  use.  To  such  as  have  not  perused  the  former  treatise,  the  discussion 
would  scarcely  be  intelligible  without  it;  to  such  as  have,  it  is  possible 
some  particulars  may  be  presented  in  a  clearer  light. 

The  attentive  reader  of  the  New  Testament  will  not  have  failed  to 
remark  that  the  rite  performed  by  John  is  rarely,  if  ever,  introduced 
without  the  addition  of  some  explanatory  phrase,  or  epithet,  intended 
apparently  to  distinguish  it  from  every  preceding  or  subsequent  religious 
observance.  Thus  it  is  sometimes  denominated  the  baptism  of  John, 
on  other  occasions  baptism  in  water,  and  the  baptism  of  repentance 
but  is  never  expressed  in  the  absolute  form  in  which  the  mention  of 
Christian  baptism  invariably  occurs.  When  the  twelve  disciples  at 
Ephesus  are  asked  into  what  {i.  e.  into  what  profession)  tliey  were 
baptized,  they  reply  into  the  baptism  of  John.  Though  innumerable 
persons  were  baptized  by  St.  Paul,  we  read  of  no  such  expression  as 
the  baptism  of  Paul ;  on  the  contrary,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Corintliians, 
he  expresses  a  sort  of  pious  horror  at  the  very  idea  of  such  a  suppo- 
sition. Whoever  considers  the  extreme  precision  which  the  inspired 
historians  maintain  in  the  choice  of  the  terms  employed  to  represent 
religious  ordinances,  will  perceive  this  circumstance  to  possess  con- 
siderable weight. 

It  derives  much  additional  strength,  however,  from  reflecting  that 
John's  baptism  is  not  only  distinctly  characterized  in  the  evangelical 
narratives,  but  that  he  himself  contrasts  it  with  a  superior  one,  which 
he  directs  his  hearers  to  expect  at  the  hand  of  the  Messiah.  "I 
indeed,"  said  he,  "baptize  you  in  water,  but  there  standeth  one  among 
you,  whose  shoe-latchets  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose ;  he  shall  baptize 
you  in  tlie  Holy  Ghost  and  in  fire  ;"  referring  unquestionably  to  that 
redundance  of  prophetic  and  miraculous  gifts  which  were  bestowed  on 
the  church  after  the  effusion  of  the  Spirit.  We  accordingly  find,  that 
after  his  resurrection  our  Lord  commissioned  his  apostles  to  teach  and 
baptize  all  nations,  the  execution  of  which  order  was  usually  accom- 
panied by  the  collation  of  such  gifts  on  believers  as  fully  corresponded 
to  those  predictions.  Though  He  who  is  confined  to  no  times  or  sea- 
sons was  pleased  in  some  instances  to  communicate  these  preternatural 
endowments  previously  to  the  act  of  baptizing,  at  others  not  in  con- 
nexion with  that  rite,  yet  that  they  were  its  usual  and  expected  con- 
comitants is  evident  from  the  language  of  St.  Paul  to  the  disciples  at 
Ephesus,  who,  not  having  heard  of  such  an  effusion  of  the  Spirit,  were 
interrogated  in  the  following  terms  :  "  Into  what  then  were  ye  bap 
tized?"  a  question  totally  irrelevant  but  upon  the  supposition  that  these 
gifts  were  the  usual  appendage  or  effect  of  that  ordinance.  No  such 
consequences  followed  the  rite  administered  by  John ;  an  important 
disparity,  to  which  he  himself  repeatedly  directed  the  attention  of  his 
followers,  as  a  decisive  proof  of  his  personal  inferiority  to  him  that  was 
to  come,  as  well  as  of  the  ceremony  he  administered  to  that  which 
should  usher  in  the  succeeding  dispensation.     In  exact  agreement  with 

Vol.  I.— a  a 


370  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

the  genius  ol  eastern  phraseology,  he  suppresses  the  mention  of  water 
on  this  oecasion,  choosing  rather  to  characterize  an  ordinance  accom- 
panied with  suc'li  stupendous  eflccts  by  its  more  elevated  feature,  rather 
than  by  one  in  -which  it  coincided  Avith  his  own. 

Again,  it  is  universally  admitted  that  Christian  baptism  has  invariably 
been  administered  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  that  circumstance  is 
essential  to  its  validity ;  while  it  is  evident  Irom  the  solicitude  with 
which  our  Saviour  avoided  the  avowal  of  himself  as  the  Messiah,  that 
during  his  personal  ministry  his  name  was  not  publicly  employed  as  the 
object  of  a  religious  rite.  After  he  had  been  declared  on  the  mount  of 
transfiguration  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  he  charged  his  disciples  to  tell  no 
man  of  it  till  he  was  risen  from  the  dead  ;  and  when  Peter  had  solemnly 
avowed  his  profession  of  faith  in  him  under  the  same  character,  he  and 
his  fellow-apostles  were  strictly  enjoined  to  tell  no  man  that  he  teas  the 
Christ.  Nor  is  there  a  single  example  of  his  publicly  acknowledging 
that  fact  until  his  arraignment  before  the  high-priest.  But  how  this  is 
consistent  with  the  practice  of  baptizing  in  his  name,  which  must  have 
been  equivalent  at  least  to  a  public  confession  of  his  being  the  Mes- 
siah, it  is  difficult  to  conceive.  If  we  examine  the  matter  more  closely, 
we  shall  perceive  that  ceremony  to  import  much  more  ;  that  it  includes 
an  act  of  adoration  and  of  worship,  of  which  He  in  whose  name  we 
are  immersed  is  the  avowed  object.  To  multiply  words  with  a  view 
to  demonstrate  the  inconsistency  of  such  a  procedure  with  the  acknow- 
ledged reserve  maintained  by  our  Lord  on  this  subject  would  be  to 
insult  the  understanding  of  my  readers ;  nor  when  furnished  with 
certain  matter  of  fact  are  we  left  to  form  an  opinion  from  previous 
probabilities.  The  historian  informs  us  that  while  John  was  baptizing, 
amid  an  immense  concourse  of  people  from  various  parts  of  Judea,  all 
men  were  musing  in  their  hearts  whether  he  were  the  Christ  or  not*  and 
'.hat  the  deputation  sent  from  the  sanhedrim  to  inquire  into  his  character 
were  disposed  to  infer,  from  his  introducing  anew  religious  rite,  that  he 
pretended  himself  to  be  the  Messiah.  But  how  is  it  possible,  let  me 
ask,  that  such  a  question  should  arise  among  the  people  on  the  hj'pothesis 
maintained  by  our  opponents  ?  or  how  could  it  enter  into  their  imagina- 
tion to  infer,  from  his  baptizing  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  that  he  himself 
was,  or  that  he  pretended  to  be,  the  Messiah?  His  constant  and  daily 
practice  must  have  completely  precluded  such  a  suspicion. 

If  St.  Paul's  citation  of  the  language  of  John,  in  the  nineteenth  of 
the  Acts,  be  correct,  what  he  said  to  the  people  was  this — "  That  they 
should  believe  on  him  who  was  to  come."t  The  epithet  h  Ipx^iievos,  he 
who  is  co?ning,  it  is  generally  admitted,  was  the  usual  appellation  applied 
to  the  Messiah  at  that  period,  which,  while  it  expresses  the  certainty 
and  near  approach  of  the  event  of  his  coming,  intimates  not  less 
clearly  its  futurity.  At  the  time  when  the  son  of  Zechariah  entered 
on  his  ministry,  nothing  could  be  more  accurate  than  the  idea  conveyed 
by  that  phraseology — the  Messiah  was  not  yet  manifest  to  Israel: 
John  was  sent  before  him  to  announce  his  speedy  appearance ;  he  was 

*  Luke  iii.  15.  1  Actsxix.  4 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  371 

as  yet  coming,  not  actually  come ;  on  which  account,  the  language 
which  the  forerunner  held  was  precise  and  appropriate ;  it  was  not  a 
demand  of  present  faith  in  any  known  individual,' but  was  limited  to  u 
future  faith  on  a  certain  personage  who  was  about  to  evince  his  title  to 
tlie  character  he  assumed  by  his  personal  appearance  and  miracles. 
He  said  to  the  people  that  they  should  believe  in  him  that  was  to  come. 
Could  the  same  person,  let  me  ask,  at  the  same  moment,  be  described 
by  terms  expressive  of  the  present  and  of  the  future  tense,  at  once  as 
an  existing  individual,  a  person  historically  known,  and  as  one  that  was 
to  come  1  In  a  word,  if  John  expressed  the  act  of  faith  which  he  re- 
quired in  the  future  tense,*  it  unquestionably  respected  a  future  act ; 
and  if  he  described  its  object  under  the  term  b  ipx^iitvo;,  he  that  is  to 
come,  he  did  not  immerse  in  tlie  name  of  Jesus,  which  would  have  been 
a  palpable  contradiction. 

.Again,  the  spiritual  import  of  Christian  baptism,  as  asserted  by  St. 
Paul,  transcends  incomparably  the  measure  of  religious  knowledge  pos- 
sessed during  the  ministry  of  John.  "  Kiiow  ye  not,"  is  his  appeal  to 
Christians,  "  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into  Jesus  Christ 
were  baptized  into  his  death  1  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him  by 
baptism  into  death  ;  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by 
the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of 
life."!  We  have  here  an  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  all  baptized  per- 
sons respecting  the  spiritual  signification  of  that  ordinance,  the  views 
which  it  embraced,  and  the  obligations  resulting  from  thence  to  a  holy 
and  heavenly  life.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  words  baj)tized  into  his 
death  f  Whatever  else  it  may  comprehend,  it  unquestionably  means 
the  being  baptized  into  a  belief  of  his  death.  But  at  the  time  tliat  John 
was  fulfilling  his  course,  this  belief  was  so  far  from  possessing  the 
minds  of  his  converts,  that  even  the  apostles  were  not  only  ignorant  of 
thai  event,  but  impatient  of  its  mention  ;  and  with  respect  to  his  resur- 
rection, we  find  these  same  apostles  after  the  transfiguration  inquiring 
among  themselves,  "  what  the  rising  from  the  dead  could  mean;"]; 
while  from  the  expectation  of  the  JeWs  at  large,  nothing  was  more 
abhorrent  than  the  death  and  crucifixion  of  their  Messiah.  While  they 
were  thus  unacquainted  with  the  principal  fact  it  is  designed  to  exhibit, 
how  could  they  possibly  comprehend  the  import  of  Christian  baptism  ? 
In  all  probability  they  regarded  the  consecrated  use  of  water  merely  as 
an  emblem  of  purification,  of  that  reformation  of  manners  to  which 
they  were  summoned  ;  for  to  such  a  use  of  it  they  had  long  been  accus- 
tomed ;  but  for  the  sublime  mysteries  of  the  Christian  sacrament,  con- 
nected with  events  of  which  they  were  ignorant,  and  with  truths  which 
were  veiled  from  their  eyes,  they  were  utterly  unprepared.  It  is  im- 
possible to  evade  the  force  of  this  argument  by  distinguishing  between 
the  disciples  of  John  and  those  who  were  converted  to  the  Christian  faith 
at  a  subsequent  period.  The  language  of  St.  Paul  precludes  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  a  distinction.  "  As  many  of  us,"  says  he,  "  as  were 
baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into   his  death ;"  which  is 

*  iriffrtuVuffi,  Acts  xix.  ■?.  t  Rom.  vi.  a,  4.  {Mark'^    10. 

A  a  2 


372  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

surely  equivalent  to  affirming  that  whoever  were  not  baptized  into  his 
death  were  not  baptized  into  Christ.  But  the  disciples  of  John  were 
not  baptized  into  (the  belief  of)  his  death.  Therefore  they  were  not 
baptized  into  Christ. 

Wc  have  already  remarked,  in  a  former  treatise,  that  as  the  ministry 
of  John  comihenccd  previously  to  that  of  the  Messiah,  which  succeeded 
his  baptism,  no  rite  celebrated  at  that  time  is  entitled  to  a  place  among 
Christian  sacraments,  since  tlwry  did  not  commence  with  the  Christian 
dispensation,  nor  issue  from  the  authority  of  Christ,  as  Head  of  the 
church.  The  sacraments  properly  Christian  undoubtedly  belong  to 
the  kingdom  of  God ;  a  phrase  which  is  constantly  employed  in  Scrip- 
ture to  denote  that  state  of  things  which  is  placed  under  the  avowed 
administration  of  the  Messiah,  and  which  consequently  could  not  pre- 
cede his  personal  appearance.  But  during  his  residence  on  earth,  until 
his  resurrection,  this  kingdom  is  uniformly  represented  as  future, 
though  near  at  hand.  Even  after  .John's  imprisonment,  the  language 
Avhich  he  held  respecting  that  object  is  the  same  : — "  The  time  is  ful- 
filled, and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand  ;  repent  ye,  and  believe  the 
gospel  ;"*  which  is  also  the  precise  intelligence  he  commanded  the 
seventy  disciples  to  proclaim!  a  little  before  his  decease.  He  was 
inaugurated  into  his  office  at  his  baptism,  till  which  period  he  remained 
in  the  obscurity  of  private  life,  at  the  utmost  remove  from  assuming  a 
legislative  character. 

An  attention  to  the  general  liistory  of  the  period  to  which  these  trans- 
actions refer  will  conduct  us  to  the  same  conclusion.  When  we  con- 
sider the  great  popularity  attached  to  the  ministry  of  the  forerunner, 
and  the  general  submission  of  the  Jewish  people  to  his  doctrine,  it  is  m 
the  highest  degree  improbable  that  of  the  three  thousand  who  were 
added  by  St.  Peter  to  the  church  on  one  day,  there  were  none  who  had 
been  previously  his  disciples  :  this  incredible  supposition  is  reduced  to 
an  impossibility,  when  we  recollect  that  of  the  twelve  apostles  two  are 
actually  affirmed  by  an  evangelist  to  have  been  of  that  number.  But 
as  it  is  universally  admitted  that  they  who  were  savingly  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  Christianity  after  the  Pentecost  were  baptized  on  that 
occasion,  what  conclusion  can  be  more  inevitable,  than  that  the  rite  ad- 
ministered by  the  harbinger  of  our  Lord  was  essentially  distinct  from 
the  Christian  ordinance. 

To  conclude  this  branch  of  the  subject :  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
furnish  us  wth  a  decisive  instance  of  an  apostle's  rebaptizing  certain 
disciples  of  John  at  Ephesus ;  but  as  we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter 
to  examine  that  incident  more  fully,  in  reply  to  the  evasions  of  the  author 
of  the  Plea,  I  shall  content  myself  at  present  vnxh.  barely  referring  to  iU 
Such  are  the  principal  grounds  on  which  we  have  ventured  to  assert 
the  fundamental  disparity  between  the  baptism  of  John,  and  the  Chris- 
tian institute. 

We  now  proceed  to  notice  the  manner  in  which  the  author  of  the 
Plea  for  Primitive  Communion  attempts  to  evade  these  arguments. 

*  Mark  i.  15.  t  Luke  x.  9. 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  373 

I.  He  endeavours  to  invalidate  the  assertion  that  John's  commission 
did  not  originate  in  the  command  of  Christ,  or  that  he,  on  any  occasion, 
ascribes  his  mission  to  the  Father,  in  distinction  from  the  Son.  The 
author  of  Terms  of  Communion  is  charged  with  representing  "  John  as 
uniformly  doing  that  of  which  there  is  no  decisive  evidence  he  ever  did 
at  all :  that  is,  ascribe  his  commission  to  the  Father,  in  distinction  from 
thi  Sony* 

We  should  have  supposed  that  when  the  origin  of  a  certain  pro- 
ceeding is  constantly  assigned  to  one  agent,  and  no  notice  is  taken  of 
another,  there  is  no  impropriety  in  affirming  that  the  proceeding  in 
question  is  ascribed  to  him  who  is  mentioned,  in  distinction  from  hira 
who  is  not.  But  let  the  Scripture  speak  for  itself,  and  let  the  reader 
judge  whether  John  did,  or  did  not,  ascribe  his  commission  to  the 
Father,  in  distinction  from  any  other  person.  "  He  who  sent  me  to 
baptize,"  said  he,  "  the  same  said  unto  me.  He  on  whom  thou  shalt  see 
the  Spirit  descending,  and  abiding  on  him,  He  it  is  who  shall  baptize  in 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  fire."t  Here  the  personage  speaking  distin- 
guishes himself  from  the  Messiah,  as  clearly  as  words  can  distinguish 
him,  for  he  speaks  of  Christ  in  the  third  person,  while  he  himself  is 
■  denoted  by  the  first ;  and  so  uniform  is  the  language  of  Scripture  on 
this  subject,  that  not  a  syllable  is  to  be  found  in  which  the  mission  of 
John  is  ascribed  to  any  other  person  than  the  Father. 

But  to  ascribe  any  operation  whatever  to  the  Father  in  distinction 
from  the  Son,  this  writer  contends,  is  inconsistenc  with  the  belief  of  the 
ineffable  union  which  subsists  between  those  divine  personages. J  "Will 
those,"  he  asks,  "who  believe  the  ineffable  union  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son  be  disposed  to  conclude  from  this  text  that  John  derived  his  au- 
thority from  the  Father,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Son  V  To  which  I 
reply,  that  believing  firmly  as  himself  that  there  is  such  a  union  subsist- 
ing between  the  personages  in  the  blessed  Godhead  as  constitutes  them 
one  living  and  true  God,  instead  of  inferring  from  thence  the  impropriety 
of  distinguishing  their  operations,  it  has.  always  appeared  to  me  that  the 
chief  advantage  resulting  from  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is,  that  it 
facilitates  our  conception  of  the  plan  of  redemption,  in  which  each  of 
these  glorious  persons  is  represented  as  assuming  distinct  though  har- 
monious offices  and  functions  ;  the  Father  originating,  so  to  speak,  the 
Son  executing,  and  the  Spirit  applying  the  several  parts  of  that  stupen- 
dous scheme.  The  Father,  accordingly,  is  uniformly  asserted  to  have 
sent  the  Son,  the  Son  to  have  assumed  the  office  of  Mediator,  and  the 
Spirit  to  be  injparted  by  both,  to  enlighten  and  sanctify  the  elect  people 
of  God.  If  we  suffer  ourselves  to  lose  sight  of  such  an  application  of 
the  doctrine,  it  subsides  into  barren  and  useless  speculation.  And  are 
we  to  be  told  that  such  is  the  ineffable  union  between  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  that  the  distinct  exercise  of  these  functions  is  an  impossibility  ? 
We  should  have  supposed  that  the  act  of  sending,  at  least,  might  be 
safely  ascribed  to  the  Father,  in  distinction  from  the  Son ;  unless,  per- 
haps, this  author,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  subtlety,  has  discovered  a  method 

*  Plea  for  Primitive  Communion,  p.  21.  t  John  i.  33.     See  the  original, 

i  Plea  Ibr  Primitive  Communion,  p.  21. 


374  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

*  by  which  a  person  may  send  himself.  In  spite  of  attempts  to  bewildei 
the  phiin  reader  by  unmeaning  obstructions,  it  will  remain  a  palpable 
fact  that  Jolui's  conuuission  is  ascribed  to  the  Father,  and  to  liini  alone  ; 
and  that  bavins:  originated  before  our  Saviour  assumed  the  legislative 
function,  it  is  in  no  respect  entitled  to  be  considered  as  a  Christian  insti- 
tute. In  addition  to  which  we  have  only  to  remark,  that  to  insist  upon 
deriving  John's  mission  from  our  Lord  is  to  implicate  him  in  the  charge 
of  employing  a  collusive  mode  of  reasoning.  In  reproving  the  unbelief 
of  the  Jews,  he  observes  that  "he  did  not  bear  witness  of  himself;"  for 
had  he  done  so,  "  his  witness  had  not  been  true :"  in  other  words,  not 
entitled  to  credit.  But  he  adds,  "  there  is  another  that  beareth  witness 
of  me,  and  I  know  that  which  he  witnesseth  of  me  is  true.  Ye  sent 
unto  John,  and  he  bore  witness  to  the  truth."*  But  if  the  person  to 
whose  testimony  he  appeals  in  proof  of  his  mission  was  sent  by  himself, 
where  is  the  force  of  this  reasoning,  or  what  difference  in  point  of  credi- 
bility is  there  between  his  bearing  witness  of  himself,  and  his  prompting 
another  to  do  it  for  him  ? 

II.  The  author  of  the  Plea  next  endeavours  to  show  the  identity  of 
the  qualifications  demanded  by  the  forerunner  of  our  Lord,  with  those 
which  were  demanded  by  his  apostles  after  the  day  of  Pentecost.  After 
objecting  to  the  accuracy  of  my  statement  on  that  article,  without  at- 
tempting to  point  out  in  what  its  incorrectness  consists,  he  proceeds  to 
remark,  that,  allowing  it  to  be  unexceptionably  just,  it  will  prove  that 
the  requisitions  which  were  supposed  to  be  different  coalesce  into  one 
and  the  same  thing.  The  reason  he  adduces  is  the  following:  "As 
both  John  and  the  apostles  are  described  as  demanding  faith,  so  that 
faith  is  to  have  the  same  object,  and  to  be  connected  with  the  same 
facts  in  relation  to  that  object,  only  some  of  these  facts  John's  disciples 
were  to  view  as  approaching ;  while  the  faith  of  those  baptized  by  the 
apostles  embraced  them  as  having  actually  occurred  ;  for  the  great 
events  respectmg  the  Messiah  as  boldly  appealed  to  faitli,  when  only 
occupying  the  prophetic  page,  as  they  do  now  they  are  become  interest- 
ing details  in  the  evangelical  history."! 

It  will  be  freely  admitted  that  the  Saviour  of  the  world  is,  in  every 
period,  and  under  every  economy,  the  sole  object  of  saving  faith ;  but 
to  infer  from  hence  that  the  profession  which  John  demanded  was  an 
appendage  of  the  dispensation  introduced  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
would  equally  demonstrate  the  Levitical  ceremonies  to  belong  to  it,  and 
would  thus  carry  back  the  Christian  dispensation  to  the  time  of  Moses. 
The  next  assertion,  "  that  the  belief  of  the  same  facts  w^s  required  in 
the  former  instance  as  in  the  latter,"  is  palpably  absurd,  as  well  as  the 
reason  assigned,  which  is,  that  they  were  foretold  by  the  ancient  pro- 
phets, and  "  that  prophecy  as  boldly  appealed  to  faith  as  the  narrative 
of  the  evangelist."  Every  one  must  perceive,  that  if  there  is  any  force 
in  this  argument,  it  will  prove  that  ichatever  was  predicted  of  the  Mes- 
siah must  have  been  distinctly  understood  and  firmly  embraced  by  the 
disciples  of  the  forerunner,  as  an  essential  prerequisite  to  the  reception 
of  baptism;   since  whatever  was  thus  predicted  was  unquestionably 

*  John  V.  31-33.  t  Flea  for  Primitive  Communion,  p.  23. 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  875 

presented  as  the  object  of  faith ;  the  place  of  his  birth,  liis  vicarious 
sufferings,  his  resurrection,  tiie  spiritual  nature  of  his  kingdom,  his 
rejection  by  the  Jews,  and  tlie  triumphant  progress  of  the  gospel  among 
the  gentiles,  with  an  infinite  number  of  other  particulars,  were  attested 
by  the  prophets.  But  will  this  author  contend  that  all  these  circum- 
stances were  understood  by  Jolin's  converts,  at  a  time  when  the  imme 
diate  disciples  of  our  Lord  were  intoxicated  with  the  hopes  of  an  earthly 
kingdom,  and  totally  unapprized  of  their  Master's  death  ?  Or  will  he 
condescend  to  inform  us  on  what  principle  so  much  more  was  requisite 
to  constitute  a  disciple  of  John  than  an  apostle  of  the  Lord?  Had  it 
been  a  question  of  duty,  instead  of  an  inquiry  into  matter  of  f*ct,  no 
difficulty  would  have  been  felt  in  acknowledging  the  justice  of  the  rebuke 
which  the  apostles  received  for  their  hardness  of  heart,  in  not  opening 
their  minds  more  freely  to  the  true  interpretation  of  Scriprvre  A  cloud 
of  carnal  prejudices  undoubtedly  eclipsed  a  considerable  portion  of 
revealed  truth ;  though,  with  the  best  dispositions,  much  must  have 
remained  obscure  tili  the  ancient  prophecies  were  fulfilled.  Previous 
to  that  period,  if  we  listen  to  the  inspired  writers,  instead  of  the  author 
of  the  Plea,  neither  the  prophets  understood  their  own  predictions  nor 
the  apostles  their  true  interpretation.  To  apply  revelation  in  its  utmost 
extent,  without  the  smallest  allowance  for  the  inevitable  involutions  of 
prophecy,  as  a  criterion  of  the  portion  of  knowledge  actually  possessed 
by  the  successive  generations  of  the  faithful,  is  a  mode  of  reasoning 
peculiar  to  this  writer.  We  possess  in  the  Apocalypse  a  series  of 
prophecies  extending  to  the  consummation  of  all  things,  a  large  portion 
of  which  is  confessedly  involved  in  obscurity ;  but  what  opinion  should 
we  entertain  of  the  sagacity  of  him  who,  at  a  period  subsequent  to  their 
accomplishment,  should  contend  that  we  of  this  age  must  necessarily 
have  been  apprized  of  the  events  which  they  foretold,  solely  on  the 
ground  of  their  being  the  subject  of  prophecy]  Such  a  reasoner  will 
be  the  properest  person  to  write  a  sequel  to  the  Plea  for  Primitive 
Communion. 

The  author  has  been  betrayed  into  these  absurdities  by  confounding 
together  two  things  totally  distinct — a  sincere  belief  in  the  truth  of  in- 
spiration, with  an  explicit  knowledge  of  its  contents.  The  prophets 
were  invested  with  credentials  which  entitled  them  to  the  profound  sub- 
mission of  mankind  ;  but  to  receive  their  predictions  as  the  word  of  God 
is  one  thing,  and  so  to  penetrate  their  scope  and  intention  as  to  be  in 
possession  of  precisely  the  same  facts,  and  acquainted  with  the  same 
truths  with  those  who  lived  to  witness  their  accomplishment,  is  another. 
All  good  men  equally  possessing  the  former  had  the  same  spirit  of 
faith ;  while,  with  respect  to  the  latter,  the  situation  of  the  hearers  of 
the  prophets  under  the  law,  and  of  the  apostolic  converts  under  the 
gospel,  was  most  dissimilar.  It  is  certain,  from  the  eulogiums  bestowed 
upon  John,  that  his  attainments  in  religious  knowledge  surpassed  the 
highest  of  those  of  his  predecessors  ;  yet  we  are  informed  from  the  same 
authority  that  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  greater  than  he. 
But  in  what  is  this  superiority,  so  universally  ascribed  to  Christians,  to 
be  placed,  except  in  an  acquaintance  with  the  facts  attested  after  the 


876  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

day  of  Pentecost,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  with  which  they 
are  inseparably  allied  ?  These  however  form  the  very  core  and  sub- 
stance of  the  apostolical  testimony,  the  unshaken  profession  of  which  was 
the  indispensable  condition  of  baptism ;  and  among  the  foremost  and 
most  fuiuiamental  of  these  are  the  vicarious  death  and  resurrection  of 
our  Lord,  which  we  are  compelled  by  their  own  testimony  to  believe 
M'ere  most  remote  from  the  previous  expectation  and  belief  of  the  apos- 
tles. Christian  baptism  is  the  "  answer  of  a  good  conscience  towards 
God,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ."* 

In  order  to  demonstrate  the  equality  of  the  requisitions  of  John  with 
those  of  the  apostles,  this  writer  has  attempted  to  exhibit  them  in  oppo- 
site columns.  These  columns,  however,  are  not  very  majestic,  nor  very 
uniform,  including  only  three  passages  on  one  side  and  four  on  the 
other.  Two  remarks  may  be  amply  sufficient  to  counteract  the  effect 
of  a  device  which  is  addressed  to  the  eyes  rather  than  to  the  under- 
standing. The  first  is,  that  the  explicit  testimony  which  the  harbinger 
bore  to  the  character  of  our  Lord,  after  his  baptism,  is  adduced  without 
the  slightest  advertence  to  the  distinction  of  times,  as  a  proof  of  the 
manner  in  Avhich  he  first  announced  his  commission ;  but  as  his  know 
ledge  of  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  we  learn  from  his  own  declaration, 
was  subsequent  to  that  event,  his  language  must  nece^arily  have  been 
modified  by  that  circumstance.  The  second  is,  that  we  have  no  more 
reason  to  suppose  that  Ins  disciples  comprehended  the  true  import  of 
his  instructions,  or  that  they  interpreted  them  aright,  than  that  the  im- 
mediate disciples  of  our  Lord  understood  similar  declarations  of  their 
Master ;  from  M'hom,  we  are  infallibly  certain,  the  sublimest  part  of  his 
teaching  was  hid,  until  it  was  elucidated  by  events.  And  what  but  a 
blind  attachment  to  hypothesis  can  obviate  the  suspicion  that  the  fo^ 
lowers  of  John  were  in  the  same  predicament,  unless  we  are  prepared 
to  affirm,  either  that  they  were  the  apter  scholars,  or  had  the  more 
skilful  master?  As  this  writer  lately  applied  the  ample  volume  of 
prophecy  as  a  criterion  to  ascertain  the  minimum,  or  lowest  measure  ot 
knowledge  requisite  to  constitute  a  disciple  of  John,  so  he  now,  with 
equal  propriety,  puts  together  all  the  scattered  sayings  of  that  great 
prophet,  for  the  same  purpose.  If  this  be  admitted  in  the  case  of  the 
forerunner,  it  can  with  no  consistency  be  withheld  in  the  instance  of  our 
Lord ;  and  by  measuring  the  actual  attainments  of  the  apostles  by  the 
extent  of  his  instructions,  we  shall  find  them  little  less  enlightened  and 
intelligent  after  his  resurrection  than  they  were  before  that  event.  The 
fact,  however,  is  far  otherwise. 

It  requires  little  penetration  to  perceive  that  the  true  method  of  ascer- 
taining (as  far  as  it  is  practicable)  the  essential  qualifications  of  John's 
candidates  is,  not  so  much  to  consult  detached  sentences  recorded  of 
his  ministry  as  the  actual  state  of  religious  knowledge  at  that  period, 
the  knowTi  attainments  of  the  apostles,  and,  above  all,  the  language  he 
is  affirmed  to  have  uttered  at  the  moment  he  was  celebrating  his  pe- 
culiar rite. 

Whatever  ideas  he  himself  might  affix  to  the  terms  "  Lamb  of  God" 

*  1  Peter  iii.  21 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHx\.  37? 

and  "  Son  of  God,",  which  it  may  not  be  easy  exactly  to  determine, 
we  may  be  certain  that  his  followers  did  not  comprehend  their  true 
import,  because  the  apostles  themselves  were  long  after  ignorant  of  the 
principal  fact,  or  doctrine,  denoted  by  the  first  of  these  appellations ; 
and,  therefore,  to  introduce  these  passages  as  this  writer  has  done,  with 
a  design  to  insinuate  that  they  conveyed  to  the  mind  precisely  the  same 
impression  as  at  present,  is  to  presume  too  much  on  the  simplicity 
of  the  reader.  He  should  have  been  aware,  that  few  are  so  bereft  of 
the  power  of  recollection  as  to  be  incapable  of  detecting  such  flimsy 
sophistry. 

Aware  that  confidence  is  contagious,  he  uniformly  abounds  in  that 
quality  in  exact  proportion  to  the  weakness  of  his  proofs.  Of  this  the 
following  passage  exhibits  an  egregious  example  ; — ^After  surveying  his 
columns  with  a  complacency  not  unlike  the  restorer  of  Babylon,  he 
triumphantly  exclaims,  "  Even  prejudice  itself  might  be  expected  to 
acknowledge  that  so  far  from  any  material  variation  between  John  and 
the  apostles,  in  introducing  their  respective  candidates  to  baptism,  they 
made  a  near  approach  to  a  syllabic  agreement."* 

To  say  nothing  at  present  of  the  name  of  Jesus,  a  point  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  discuss  hereafter, — did  John  require  of  his  candidates 
a  profession  of  their  belief  in  Christ's  death,  resurrection,  and  ascen- 
sion 1  If  he  did,  he  was  a  superior  teacher  to  his  Master,  and  his 
disciples  greater  proficients  than  the  apostles ;  a  proposition  which, 
however  "  boldly  it  may  appeal  to  our  faith,"  it  is  hard  to  digest.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  he  acknowledges  that  a  belief  of  these  facts  was  not 
required  by  John  as  the  condition  of  baptism,  while  it  unquestionably 
was  of  the  apostolic  converts,  what  becomes  of  his  syllabic  agreement  ? 
and  what  temerity,  not  to  say  impiety,  to  represent  these  stupendous 
events,  the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Saviour,  which  involve  the 
destinies  of  the  human  race,  the  incessant  theme  of  the  apostolic  min- 
istry, the  basis  of  hope,  the  pillar,  not  the  miserable  columns  of  a  page, 
but  the  column  which  props  and  supports  a  sinking  universe,  an  affair 
of  syllables,  so  that  whether  they  are  omitted  or  included,  there  exists 
a  syllabic  agreement ! 

Justly  apprehensive  of  fatiguing  the  attention  of  the  reader,  the  au- 
thor cannot  prevail  on  himself  to  dismiss  this  branch  of  the  subject 
without  bestowing  a  word  more  on  the  fallacious  medium  of  proof  em- 
ployed in  this  instance  by  the  writer  of  the  Plea.  Prophecy,  he 
informs  us,  as  "  boldly  appealed  to  faith"  as  history ;  from  which  the 
only  legitimate  inference  is,  that  the  disciple  of  revelation  is  as  much 
under  obligation  to  give  implicit  credit  to  the  prophets  as  to  the  evange- 
lists. His  inference,  however,  is,  that  the  precise  measure  of  informa- 
tion yielded  by  the  historian  must  of  necessity  be  possessed  by  the 
student  of  prophecy  ;  than  which  nothing  is  more  absurd  and  untenable. 
To  reason  in  this  manner  is,  in  the  first  place,  to  forget  the  prodigious 
disparity  in  point  of  perspicuity  between  the  respective  sources  of 
information ;  and,  secondly,  in  opposition  to  the  decisive  and  repeated 

*  Plea  for  Primitive  Communion,  d.  34. 


378  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

testimonies  of  inspiration,  to  presume  that  good  men  have  uniformly 
exerted  the  ardour,  impartiality,  and  diligence  in  the  pursuit  of  truth  to 
which  it  is  justly  entitled.  Besides,  when  it  is  asserted  that  the  pro- 
phetic page  "  as  boldly  appeals  to  faith  as  the  details  of  evangelical 
history,"  an  ambiguity  Im-ks  in  the  word  appeal,  as  well  suited  to  the 
purposes  of  sophistry  as  it  is  unfavourable  to  the  enunciation  of  truth. 
It  may  either  mean  that  it  demands  the  same  credit  with  historical  de- 
tails, or  that  it  imposes  an  obligation  to  believe  the  same  facts  and  to 
penetrate  the  same  mysteries.  In  the  former  sense  the  assertion  is 
true,  but  foreign  to  the  purpose ;  in  the  latter  it  is  palpably  false  ;  at 
once  repugnant  to  the  nature  of  things  as  well  as  to  the  plainest  fact 
Many  of  tlie  most  important  predictions  were  involved  in  a  total  ob 
scuritv ;  others  were  designed  to  excite  a  vague  but  elevated  expecta 
tion,  M'ithout  ascertaining  the  features  of  a  future  event ;  none  were 
designed  to  make  that  clear  and  determinate  impression  upon  the  spirit 
which  is  eflected  by  their  accomplishment.  From  the  necessary  ob- 
scurity of  prophecy,  combined  with  tlie  ignorance  and  prejudice  which 
obstruct  its  operation,  it  is  impossible,  in  any  case,  by  appealing  to  a 
prediction  to  ascertain  the  sentiments  entertained  even  by  good  men 
antecedently  to  its  fulfilment.  The  only  clew  to  conduct  us  in  this 
inquiry  is  derived  from  the  assertions  of  the  evangelists,  which  as  clearly 
confute  the  vain  surmises  and  conjectures  of  this  writer  as  if  they  had 
been  recorded  for  that  purpose. 

The  v,-ord  faith  to  the  illiterate  reader  is  almost  sure  to  suggest  all 
the  sentiments  and  ideas  with  which  the  gospel  has  made  him  familiar ; 
and  when  we  attempt  to  limit  its  objects  by  an  impartial  appeal  to  the 
actual  state  of  religious  knowledge  before  the  coming   of  Christ,  he 
feels  himself  confounded  and  amazed.     His  exclusive  acquaintance  with 
the  present  disqualifies  him  for  transporting  himself  into  past  ages,  and 
conceiving  the  ideas  and  sentiments  prevalent  in  a  situation  so  dissimilar. 
To  do  justice  to  the  author  of  the  Plea,  it  must  be  acknowledged  he 
has  shown  no  inconsiderable  skill  in  availing  himself  of  this  prejudice. 
What  were  the  precise  vietvs  entertained  by  the   true  Israel  of  the 
offices  of  the  jMessiah,  and  of  the  work  of  redemption  previously  to  the 
Christian  era,  is  one  of  the  most  curious  and  intricate  questions  of  the- 
ology.    Without  attempting  its  solution,  the  writer  of  these  lines  may 
be  permitted  to  remark  that  the  Jewish  belief  was  probably  much  more 
defective,  and  differed  much  further  from  the  Christian,  than  has  usually 
been  suspected.     The  ignorance  of  the  apostles  till  after  the  resurrec- 
tion is  a  fundamental  fact,  a  datum,  wliich  should  never  be  lost  sight 
of  in  this  inquiry.     It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  assume  it  as  a 
standard  by  which  to  regulate  our  estimate  of  every  preceding  degree 
of  information.     For  when  we  recollect  the  long  suspension   of  pro- 
phetic gifts  in  the  Jewish  church,  the  Avithdrawment  of  the  Urim  and 
Thummim,  the  extinction,  in  its  sensible  effects  at  least,  of  the  theoc- 
racy, the  intermixture  of  Jews  and  gentiles,  inseparable  from  the  intro- 
duction of  a  pagan  government,  the  influence  of  oriental  philosophy, 
the  division  of  the  people  into  sects,  and   the  extreme   profligacy  and 
corruption  of  manners  orevalent  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  nativity,  it 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  370 

will  probably  appear  io  have  been  the  darkest  period  the  church  had 
experienced,  resembling  that  portion  of  the  natural  day  which  imme- 
diately precedes  the  dawn,  when  the  nocturnal  light  is  extinguished  and 
the  reflection  of  a  brighter  luminary  not  commenced. 

But  with  all  the  consideration  due  to  these  circumstances  (and  prob- 
ably much  is  due),  there  is  still  reason  to  suspect  that  the  average 
degree  of  knowledge  which  divines  have  been  accustomed  to  ascribe 
to  Jewish  believers  has  been  overrated.  From  the  typical  institution 
of  piacular  sacrifices,  pointing  to  the  great  propitiation,  it  has  been 
confidently  concluded,  that  in  them  believers  distinctly  recognised  the 
mystery  of  atonement  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  But  supposing  such  to 
have  been  the  fact,  how  shall  we  account  for  that  doctrine  occupying 
so  small  a  portion  of  the  succeeding  prophecies ;  or  for  its  so  com- 
pletely vanishing  from  the  national  creed,  that  the  crucifixion  of  Christ 
afterward  became  a  stumbling-block  to  the  Jews,  not  less  than  foolish- 
ness to  the  gentiles  1  A  doctrine  so  congenial  to  the  feelings  of  peni- 
tent devotion,  involving  the  primary  basis  of  hope,  had  it  once  been 
embraced,  would  undoubtedly  have  been  inculcated  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  transmitted  to  the  posterity  of  the  faithful  in  uninterrupted 
succession,  instead  of  being  suflTered  to  fall  into  such  oblivion  that  at 
the  time  of  the  Saviour's  advent,  every  trace  of  it  had  disappeared. 
While  Christianity  subsists,  we  entertain  no  apprehension  of  this  great 
doctrine  falling  into  neglect ;  its  intrinsic  evidence  and  importance  will 
perpetuate  it,  unquestionably,  amid  all  the  fluctuations  of  systems  and 
opinions ;  and,  by  parity  of  reason,  its  clear  enunciation  to  the  Jewish 
church  must  have  been  productive  of  similar  effects. 

If  we  read  the  ancient  prophecies  with  attention,  we  shall  perceive, 
that  the  atonement  made  by  the  Saviour  is  scarcely  exhibited  in  a 
single  passage,  except  in  the  fifty-third  of  Isaiah,  with  respect  to  which 
the  Ethiopian  eunuch  was  at  a  loss  to  determine  whether  the  "  prophet 
spoke  of  himself,  or  of  some  other  man :"  we  shall  perceive  that  in 
the  practical  and  devotional  books,  such  as  the  Psalms,  the  promise  of 
pardon  to  the  penitent,  and  of  favour  to  the  righteous,  are  expressly 
and  repeatedly  propounded,  though  with  respect  to  the  medium  of  ac- 
ceptance a  profound  sUence  is  maintained.  But  how  this  is  con- 
sistent with  the  supposed  knowledge  of  that  medium  it  is  not  easy 
to  discover.  The  habitual  reserve  on  this  subject  maintained  by  the 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  compared  to  its  constant  inculcation  in 
the  New,  forms  the  grand  distinction  between  these  respective  portions 
of  revelation ;  clearly  evincing  the  truth  of  the  apostle's  assertion, 
that  the  "  way  into  the  holiest  was  not  made  manifest"  while  the  ancient 
sanctuary  subsisted. 

It  will  perhaps  be  replied,  Are  we  then  to  renounce  the  notion  of 
the  typical  nature  of  sacrificial  rites,  and,  in  contradiction  to  the  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  assert  that  they  bore  no  reference  to 
the  great  propitiation  ?  Nothing  is  more  foreign  from  the  purpose 
of  these  remarks. 

That  the  ceremonial  law  was  a  prefiguration  of  good  things  to  come, 
and  owed  its  validity  and  efficacy  entirely  to  the  analogy  which  it  bore 


S80  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

to  the  true  sacrifce,  is  placed  beyond  all  reasonable  controversy.  All 
that  is  contended  for  is,  that  the  reference  which  it  bore  was  not  under- 
stood during  the  subsistence  of  that  economy  ;  that  it  is  not  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  interpretation  of  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  so  much 
as  a  sort  of  temporary  substitute  for  that  discovery ;  and  that  it  was  a 
system  of  ciphers  or  symbols,  the  true  interpretation  of  which  was 
reserved  to  a  future  period.  It  is  no  more  essential  to  the  existence 
of  a  type  that  its  import  be  understood  before  it  is  verified,  than  it  is 
essential  to  prophecy  that  its  just  interpretation  be  comprehended 
before  it  is  fulfilled.  If  we  consider  the  benefit  derived  to  the  ancient 
church  from  prophecy  in  its  strictest  sense,  we  shall  find  it  consisted, 
not  in  making  men  prophets,  or  enabling  them  to  foretel  future  events, 
but  rather  in  maintaining  high  and  consolatory  views  of  the  providence 
and  the  attributes  of  God,  accompanied  with  a  firm  but  humble  assur- 
ance of  his  gracious  interposition  in  their  concerns. 

A  general  expectation  of  the  Messiah's  advent,  as  of  some  glorious 
and  Divine  personage,  who  would  bestow  the  highest  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral felicity,  without  descending  to  details,  or  foreseeing  the  j^recise 
method  by  which  his  interposition  was  to  become  eflfectual,  appears  to 
have  nearly  bounded  the  views  of  such  as  "  waited  for  the  consolation 
of  Israel."  Thus  vague  and  general,  at  least,  were  the  expectations 
of  the  faithful  at  the  time  of  his  appearance  :  to  suppose  they  were 
ever  materially  different  is  a  gratuitous  supposition,  totally  devoid  of 
proof. 

In  discussing  this  point,  it  is  expedient  to  distinguish  between  the 
fact  and  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement.  The  aspect  of  the  atonement 
of  Christ  considered  as  a  transaction,  is  towards  God ;  considered  as  a 
doctrine,  towards  man.  Viewed  in  the  former  light  its  operation  is 
essential,  unchangeable,  eternal — "  He  Avas  the  Lamb  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world."  Considered  in  the  latter,  its  operation  is 
moral,  and  therefore  subject  to  all  the  varieties  incident  to  human  na- 
ture. The  Cross,  considered  as  the  meritorious  basis  of  acceptance, 
the  only  real  satisfaction  for  sin,  is  the  centre  around  which  all  the 
purposes  of  mercy  to  fallen  man  have  continued  to  revolve  :  fixed  and 
determined  in  the  counsel  of  God,  it  operated  as  the  grand  consideration 
in  the  Divine  mind,  on  which  salvation  was  awarded  to  penitent  be- 
lievers in  the  earliest  ages,  as  it  will  continue  to  operate  in  the  same 
manner  to  the  latest  boundaries  of  time.  Hence  it  is  manifest  that  this 
great  transaction  could  admit  of  no  substitute.  But  that  discovery  of 
it  which  constitutes  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  though  highly  im- 
portant, is  not  of  equal  necessity.  Its  moral  impression,  its  beneficial 
efilects  on  the  mind,  were  capable  of  being  secured  by  the  institution 
of  sacrifice,  though  in  an  inferior  degree ;  while  the  offender,  by  con- 
fessing his  sins  over  the  head  of  the  victim,  which  he  afterward  slew, 
distinctly  recognised  his  guilt,  his  just  exposure  to  destruction,  and  his 
exclusive  reliance  on  Divine  mercy. 

By  such  elements  of  penitential  sorrow  and  humble  submission, 
accompanied  with  a  general  expectation  of  a  Messiah,  devout  worship- 
pers were  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  sublimer  mysteries  of  the 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  381 

gospel ;  and  thus  "  the  law  became  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  them  to 
Christ." 

When  St.  Paul  asserts  that  the  same  law  was  a  shadow  of  "  good 
things  to  come,  and  not  the  very  image  of  those  things,"  he  clearly 
intimates  an  essential  difierence  between  the  two  economies,  and  that  the 
Mosaic  did  not  aftbrd  that  acquaintance  with  the  method  of  pardon  and 
reconcilement  which  constitutes  the  distinguishing  glory  of  the  gospel. 
But  if  the  Levitical  sacrifices  instructed  the  pious  Jew  in  the  doctrine 
of  vicarious  atonement  as  it  is  now  exhibited,  they  were  already  pos- 
sessed of  the  substance,  and  the  law  could  with  no  propriety  be  styled 
a  schoolmaster  intended  to  lead  them  to  Christ,  who  had  already  arrived 
thither. 

The  passage  to  which  we  have  already  adverted,  which  affirms  that 
the  way  into  the  holiest  of  all  was  not  made  manifest  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  first  tabernacle,  merits  attentive  consideration.  From 
this  and  other  similar  passages,  many  of  the  fathers  were  led  to  infer 
that  the  souls  of  departed  saints  were  not  immediately  received  at  death 
into  the  beatific  vision,  but  waited  for  their  future  crowns  till  the  genera] 
resurrection,  while  some  of  them  were  permitted  to  accompany  oui 
Saviour  at  his  ascension,  as  trophies  of  his  victory  over  the  last  enemy 
As  this  is  a  notion  which  it  is  probable  few  at  present  will  be  disposed 
to  embrace,  so  it  was  the  necessary  result  of  interpreting  the  words  in 
too  absolute  a  sense,  and  of  transferring  to  the  objects  themselves  what 
may  with  more  propriety  be  referred  to  the  conception  entertained  of 
those  objects.  Chrysostom  paraphrases  the  text  by  remarking  that  the 
way  into  the  holiest,  or  into  heaven,  was  (u/Jaroj)  inaccessible  :  St.  Paul 
merely  affirms  that  it  was  not  made  manifest.  Distinct  from  these  two 
interpretations  it  seems  impossible  to  find  a  third :  the  words  must 
either  intend  that  the  way  itself  was  not  opened,  or  that  the  knowledge 
of  it  was  not  communicated,  which  is  equivalent  to  asserting  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  reserved  to  be  de- 
veloped in  a  future  day. 

If  the  justice  of  these  observations  be-  admitted,  the  situation  of  Jewish 
believers  will  appear  indeed  to  have  been  far  removed  from  that  of 
Christians,  and  the  gospel  dispensation  will  derive  a  prodigious  accession 
of  splendour  from  the  comparison.  It  will  be  seen  that  they  were 
"  shut  up,"  to  use  the  language  of  inspiration,  unto  the  faith  to  be  revealed, 
that  their  state  was  comparatively  gloomy,  though  not  hopeless ;  and 
that  they  were  upheld  by  general  assurances  of  Divine  mercy,  con- 
firmed by  the  acceptance  of  their  offerings  ;  while  they  possessed  no 
clear  and  distinct  conception  of  the  way  in  which  it  would  be  displayed, 
or  by  what  expedient  its  exercise  could  be  rendered  consistent  with  the 
immutable  holiness  and  justice  of  the  Divine  nature. 

"  Ibant  obacuri  sola  sub  nocte  per  umbras." 

Led  by  a  way  that  they  knew  not,  the  obscurity  with  which  they  were 
surrounded  must  often  have  dismayed  them ;  while  the  perturbation 
of  conscience,  on  every  recurrence  of  guilt,  would  clothe  the  last  enemy 


382  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

with  new  terrors,  and  deepen  the  shades  which  invest  the  sepulchre. 
Hence  arose  that  huiguage  of  despondency  uttered  byHezekiah,  David, 
and  others,  in  the  prospect  of  dissohuion,  together  with  the  gloomy 
pictures  which  they  frequently  draw  of  the  regions  beyond  the  grave, 
natural  to  such  as  were  "  all  their  life,  through  fear  of  death,  subject  to 
bondage."  Exposed  to  danger  from  which  they  knew  no  definite  mode 
of  escape,  and  placed  on  the  confines  of  an  eternity  feebly  and  faintly 
illuminated,  they  had  no  other  resource  besides  an  implicit  confidence 
in  uiysterious  mercy. 

But  notwithstanding  the  extreme  imperfection  of  their  views,  inasmuch 
as  they  cordially  embraced  the  promises  of  God  in  the  proportion  in 
which  they  were  then  propounded,  and  cherished  the  expectation  of  a 
great  Deliverer  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  they  possessed  the  spirit 
of  faith.  Genuine  faith  considered  as  a  principle  is  characterized,  not 
so  much  by  the  particular  truths  which  it  embraces,  as  by  its  origin,  its 
nature,  and  its  effects.  When  St.  Paul  describes  the  faith  by  which  the 
elders  obtained  a  good  report,  he  refers  not  to  the  mysteries  of  the  gos- 
pel, but  specifies  the  persuasion  that  the  worlds  were  made  or  created 
by  the  word  of  God,  in  opposition  to  the  opinion  that  they  were  formed 
out  of  pre-existent  matter,  which  universally  prevailed  in  pagan  philoso- 
phy. He  also  enumerates  among  its  legitimate  objects  the  belief  "that 
God  is,  and  that  he  is  the  rewarder  of  such  as  diligently  seek  him ;" 
and  whoever  examines  with  attention  the  various  examples  which  he 
adduces  of  the  operation  of  that  principle  must  be  convinced  that  the 
idea  of  a  vicarious  propitiation  is  not  absolutely  essential  to  its  nature, 
however  necessary  to  salvation  it  has  become,  in  consequence  of  the 
clear  revelation  of  that  doctrine. 

Here  then,  in  all  probability,  consists  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  gospel, 
in  contradistinction  from  the  economy  of  Moses,  that  it  deciphers  the 
figures  of  the  law,  accomplishes  and  absorbs  every  purpose  of  its 
sacrifices,  and  dispels  the  obscurity  which  concealed  eternal  realities, 
by  placing  in  a  refulgent  light  that  great  mystery,  hid  from  ages  and 
generations,  "  by  which  God  can  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him 
who  believeth  in  Jesus."  Thus  the  rigour  and  reserve  which,  under 
the  ancient  economy,  generated  a  spirit  of  bondage,  is  exchanged  for 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  But  it  is  time  to  return  from 
this  digression,  which,  though  not  totally  irrelevant  to  the  subject,  has 
diverted  the  author's  attention  longer  than  he  intended  from  the  writer 
of  the  Plea. 

ni.  In  my  former  treatise,  the  omission  of  the  name  of  Christ  in  the 
baptism  of  John  was  urged  in  proof  of  its  being  distinct  from  the 
Christian  ordinance  ;  on  the  contrary,  in  the  total  absence  of  Scriptural 
e\'idence,  my  opponent  contends  that  he  not  only  baptized  in  the  name 
of  Jesus,  but  also  in  that  of  the  holy  Trinity.  Supposmg  such  to  have 
been  the  fact,  upon  what  principle  can  we  accomit  for  the  silence  of  the 
sacred  writer  on  so  important  a  particular  1  for  that  it  was  important, 
and  would  have  contributed  more  to  elucidate  the  nature  and  extent 
of  his  mission  than  all  the  circumstances  combined  which  they  have 
thought  fit  to  record,  will  scarcely  be  denied.     What  similar  example 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  383 

occurs  in  the  whole  series  of  Scripture  history,  of  a  minute  and  aetailed 
account  of  a  rehgious  ceremony,  in  which  the  mention  of  its  most  es- 
sential feature  is  suppressed  ;  or  who  will  believe,  that  while  the  minutesi 
particulars  respecting  John  were  deemed  worthy  of  being  recorded,  one 
so  remarkable  and  unprecedented  as  that  of  his  baptizing  in  the  name 
of  the  Trinity  was  too  trivial  to  be  mentioned  1  a  circumstance  of  much 
greater  moment  surely  than  his  subsisting  on  locusts,  or  his  being  clothed 
with  a  girdle.  But  besides  the  silence  of  Scripture,  which  might  of  itself 
be  deemed  sufficiently  decisive,  the  inconsistency  of  such  a  proceeding 
with  the  known  reserve  our  Lord  uniformly  maintained  respecting  his 
messiahship,  and  his  repeated  charges  to  his  disciples  not  to  publish 
that  fact,  demonstrate  the  extreme  improbability  of  his  suffering  himself 
to  become  the  avowed  object  ,of  a  religious  rite.  The  employment 
of  his  name  for  such  a  purpose,  it  is  obvious,  was  equivalent  to  a  public 
declaration  of  his  being  the  Messiah,  and  must  have  defeated  his  known 
intention.  In  the  publication  Oii  Terms  of  Communion,  this  argument 
was  repeatedly  insisted  on,  and  pursued  to  such  an  extent  of  illustration, 
that  we  should  have  supposed  it  impossible  it  could  either  be  misunder- 
stood or  misrepresented.  What  is  the  reply  of  the  author  of  the  Plea 
to  this  argument  ?  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  in  the  annals  of  con- 
troversy: it  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  this,  tliat  though  our  Lord 
frequently  enjoined  secrecy  as  to  the  dignity  of  his  divine  character 
and  the  immediate  object  of  his  mission,  there  is  not  a  single  instance 
in  which  he  manifested  any  delicacy  as  to  his  name.*  He  afterward 
proceeds  to  tell  us  widi  great  gravity,  that  his  name  Jesus  was  as  well 
known  as  that  of  Peter  and  John,  and  that  he  was  addressed  under  that 
name  equally  by  friends,  enemies,  and  strangers.  My  reluctance  to 
inflame  this  controversy  with  the  langua-ge  of  exacerbation  reduces  me 
on  this  occasion  to  a  perplexity  how  to  express  myself.  Is  it  possible, 
let  me  ask,  he  could  so  far  mistake  the  scope  and  bearing  of  the  reason- 
ing, as  to  confound  the  use  of  the  term  Jesus,  as  the  proper  name  by 
whioh  he  was  addressed  in  the  ordinary  intercourse  of  life,  with  the 
employment  of  it  with  that  of  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  in  a  holy 
sacrament  ?  Or  will  he  contend  that  to  call  a  person  by  the  name 
of  Jesus,  or  by  any  other  appellation  whatever,  is  precisely  the  same 
thing  as  to  baptize  in  his  name  ?  He  who  is  capable  of  confounding 
things  so  essentially  distinct  is  beyond  the  reach  of  reasoning :  and  if 
he  did  not  confound  them,  but  wished  to  put  the  change  upon  his  readers, 
from  a  despair  of  being  able  to  answer  the  argument,  he  has  evinced  a 
want  of  candour  and  good  faith  that  merits  the  severest  animadversion 
Had  his  publication  been  a  tissue  of  nonsense  and  stupidity  throughout 
we  should  have  been  strongly  inclined  to  the  former  supposition ;  but 
when  we  reflect  on  the  shrewdness  which  it  occasionally  displays 
joined  to  his  care  not  to  glance  in  the  sliglitest  manner  to  the  true  hinge 
of  the  controversy,  it  is  difficult  not  to  suspect  the  latter.  It  may  be 
questioned  whether  another  person  could  have  been  found  acquainted 
with  the  English  language,  but  would  have  instantly  perceived  that  i' 
was  not  the  author's  intention  to  insinuate  a  reluctance  in  our  Lord  to 
divulge  his  name,  but  the  fact  of  his  being  the  Messiah ;  and  that  v 

*  pies  for  Primitive  Communion,  p.  27. 


3&.1  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

was  Uie  inseparable  connexion  of  tliat  fact  with  the  practice  of  baptizing 
ai  liis  name  which  was  the  ground  of  my  objection.  As  he  has  not 
made  the  slightest  attempt  to  solve  the  difficulty,  it  would  be  trifling 
with  the  patience  of  the  reader  to  attempt  to  re-enforce  it. 

IV.  The  different  elfects  which  accompanied  baptism  when  performed 
by  the  apostles  and  by  John  were  urged  as  a  decisive  proof  that  the 
two  baptisms  were  essentially  distinct,  and  characteristic  of  separate 
economics.  To  such  a  distinction  our  attention  is  invited  by  the  fore- 
runner, wlio  affirmed  himself  to  baptize  in  water  only,  but  that  "  He  that 
came  after  him  should  baptize  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in  fire."  To  this 
the  author  of  the  Plea  replies  by  remarking  "  that  the  argument  proceeds 
on  incorrect  data :  it  appears  to  assume  that  water  baptism  and  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  are  the  same ;  or  that  the  latter  invariably 
followed  the  former.  It  will  no  doubt  be  regarded  as  a  remarkable 
Jicident,  that  in  the  midst  of  a  zealous  effort  to  separate  between  what 
IS  substantially  the  same,  an  attempt  should  be  made  to  identify  what 
IS  essentially  different."* 

After  describing  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  an  effect  which 
ordinarily  accompanied  immersion  in  the  name  of  Christ,  it  will  be 
deemed  much  more  remarkable  that  the  author  should  be  accused  of 
confounding  them,  or  that  he  should  be  affirmed  to  have  identified  two 
things  which  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect.  If 
it  be  a  fact  that  the  communication  of  the  Spirit  usually  accompanied 
the  administration  of  baptism  in  the  apostolic  age,  while  no  such  com- 
munication was  annexed  to  the  ceremony  of  John,  the  author's  position 
is  correct.  In  proof  of  this  fact,  we  have  only  to  consult  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  which  record  the  history  of  the  first  promulgation  of  the 
gospel.  We  there  perceive  that  St.  Peter  held  out  the  promise  of  the 
Spirit  to  the  people,  as  a  principal  inducement  to  submit  to  the  baptismal 
sacrament ;  and  that  when  St.  Paul  found  certain  disciples  at  EphesuS 
who,  though  baptized,  had  not  heard  of  those  supernatural  endowments, 
ne  expressed  his  surprise,  saying,  "  Into  what  then  were  ye  baptized  ?" 
a  question  totally  irrelevant  but  upon  the  supposition  that  the  reception 
of  miraculous  gifts  was  the  stated  appendage  to  that  ordinance. 

The  only  inquiry  which  can  possibly  arise  on  this  subject  is,  whether 
John,  in  foretelling  that  the  Messiah  should  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost, 
mtended  to  allude  to  the  sacramental  water,  or  whether  his  attention 
was  directed  solely  to  the  effusion  of  the  Spirit,  without  reference  to 
the  external  rite.  This  question,  however,  admits  of  easy  decision,  when 
we  recollect  that  the  corporeal  rite  was  the  usual  preparative  for  the 
reception  of  spiritual  gifts,  that  they  were  announced  in  immediate  con- 
nexion with  the  act  of  baptizing,  and  that,  though  the  ancient  prophets 
almost  universally  foretold  the  abundant  effusion  of  spiritual  gifts  and 
graces,  which  succeeded  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  none  before  John 
made  use  of  a  figure  which,  viewed  apart  from  the  visible  action  with 
which  it  was  associated,  would  have  been  scarcely  intelligible.  His 
suppression  of  the  mention  of  water  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
genius  of  oriental  speech,  which,  in  the  exhibition  of  a  complex  object, 
.s  wont  to  represent  it  only  by  its  boldest  and  most  impressive  feature 

*  Plea  for  Primitive  Communion,  p.  29. 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  385 

It  is  not  necessary  io  the  support  of  this  reasoning  to  assert  tliat  the 
communication  of  miraculous  gifts  invariably  accompanied  baptism :  it 
is  quite  sufficient  to  account  for  the  language  of  John,  as  well  as  to  sus- 
tain the  inference  deduced  from  it,  that  such  was  the  stated  order.  The 
instance  of  the  Samaritans  recorded  in  the  eighth  of  the  Acts  is  urged 
as  an  exception  ;  but  when  attentively  examined,  it  is  none.  We  are 
informed,  indeed,  that  though  they  were  already  baptized,  "  the  Holy 
Ghost  was  fallen  upon  none  of  them  ;"  not,  however,  because  the  gift  of 
the  Spirit  did  not  usually  accompany  the  administration  of  that  rite,  but 
because  the  apostles,  to  whom  alone  the  power  of  conferring  it  belonged, 
were  not  present.  The  case  of  the  apostles  themselves,  and  of  Cor- 
nelius, it  is  admitted,  may  be  considered  as  exceptions.  In  the  former 
instance  the  outward  ceremony  was  superseded,  as  we  apprehend,  partly 
by  the  previous  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  and  partly  by  their  having  been 
converted  to  Christianity  before  the  institution  of  that  rite.  In  the  latter, 
there  was  merely  an  inversion  of  the  usual  order:  the  Spirit  was  given 
prior  to  the  administration  of  baptism,  instead  of  succeeding  it ;  but  still 
they  were  closely  conjoined  in  point  of  time,  and  sufficiently  connected 
to  justify  the  language  of  John. 

To  relieve  the  tediousness  of  the  present  discussion,  let  me  here 
present  the  reader  with  a  sample  of  the  author's  logic  :  "  If  these  super- 
natural effects,"  he  triumphantly  remarks,  "are  invariably  to  follow 
immersion  in  water,  in  order  to  demonstrate  that  this  is  really  Christian 
baptism,  how  is  it  they  were  copiously  enjoyed  by  some  who  are  sup- 
posed never  to  have  received  this  institution  ?"*  By  an  argument  pre 
cisely  similar,  it  were  easy  to  demonstrate  that  the  possession  of  reason 
is  no  essential  ingredient  in  the  constitution  of  human  nature.  For  it 
might  with  equal  propriety  be  urged,  if  such  a  principle  enters  neces- 
sarily into  the  definition  of  human  nature,  how  is  it  that  it  is  copiously 
enjoyed  by  beings  (angels  for  example)  who  are  supposed  never  to  have 
received  such  a  nature  ?  This  reply  may  be  deemed  amply  sufficient 
for  sucTi  a  mode  of  reasoning  :  but  in  addition  to  this,  let  it  be  observed 
that  it  was  neither  asserted  nor  insinuated  that  miraculous  gifts  are 
invariably  requisite  to  constitute  Christian  baptism ;  but  simply  that  the 
fact  of  their  accompanying  it,  when  performed  by  the  apostles,  was 
held  up  by  John  as  a  striking  feature  in  the  new  dispensation.  And 
where  is  the  absurdity  of  admitting  that,  without  contending  for  its  per- 
petuity, miraculous  gifts  sufficiently  marked  the  transition  from  one 
economy  to  another ;  or  that  it  is  a  peculiarity  worthy  of  mention  among 
the  characteristics  of  a  period  denominated,  in  distinction  from  every 
preceding  one,  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  ? 

V.  Apprehensive  of  fatiguing  the  attention  of  the  reader,  we  hasten 
to  the  last  particular  connected  with  this  branch  of  the  controversy, 
which  is  the  decisive  proof  of  the  truth  of  my  hypothesis,  resulting  from 
the  fact  that  the  disciples  of  John  were  baptized  by  St.  Paul.  As  the 
author  of  the  Plea,  however,  finds  it  necessary  to  contradict  it,  it  will 
be  proper  to  quote  the  whole  passage,  as  it  stands  in  the  common  trans 
lation,  the  accuracy  of  which  no  critic  has  impeached  : — "  And  it  came 

*  Plea  for  rrimiiive  Communion,  p.  30 

Vol.  I.— B  b 


,:f86  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

to  pass,  that  whilo  ApoUos  was  at  Corinth,  Paul,  having  passed  through 
the  upper  coasts,  came  to  Ephesus,  and  finding  certain  disciples,  he 
said  unto  tlicni.  Have  ye  received  the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  believed 
A.nd  they  said  unto  him,  We  have  not  so  much  as  heard  whether  there 
De  any  Iloly  Ghost,  And  he  said  unto  them.  Unto  what  then  were  ye 
baptized  ?  And  they  said,  Unto  John's  baptism.  Then  said  Paul, 
John  verily  baptized  with  the  baptism  of  repentance,  saying  unto  the 
people  that  they  should  believe  on  him  which  should  cdme  after  him, 
that  is,  on  Christ  Jesus.  When  they  heard  this,  they  were  baptized  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  when  Paul  had  laid  his  hands  on 
them,  the  Holy  Ghost  came  upon  tliem,  and  they  spake  witli  tongues 
and  prophesied."*  In  examining  this  passage,  with  a  view  to  the  inquiry 
whether  these  men  were  baptized  by  St.  Paul  or  not,  it  is  the  fifth  verse 
which  especially  claims  our  attention.  The  question  turns  entirely  on 
the  interpretation  of  the  following  words  : — "  When  they  heard  this, 
they  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  These  U'ords  must 
be  understood  either  as  the  language  of  St.  Paul  or  of  Luke  the  histo- 
rian. Our  opponents  contend  that  they  are  to  be  understood  as  a  con- 
tinuance of  St.  Paid's  address,  in  which  he  describes  the  nature  and 
effects  of  John's  baptism.  Upon  this  interpretation  the  passage  last 
quoted  has  no  relation  to  the  disciples  at  Ephesus,  except  as  it  was 
intended  for  their  instruction  ;  it  is  descriptive,  not  of  what  befell  those 
disciples,  but  of  the  general  submission  of  the  Jewish  people  to  the  rite 
administered  by  John.  And  as  it  is  asserted  in  the  next  verse  that  St. 
Paul  laid  his  hands  upon  them,  and  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
prophesied,  we  are  led  to  a  most  extraordinary  paradox,  the  assertion 
that  St.  Paul  actually  laid  his  hands,  not  on  the  persons  mentioned  at 
the  beginning  of  the  paragraph,  but  on  that  part  of  the  Jewish  people 
at  large  who  had  been  baptized  by  John,  to  whom  he  also  communi- 
cated prophetic  gifts.  But  as  this  proposition  is  too  hard  even  for  the 
powerful  digestion  of  our  opponents,  they  are  compelled  to  adopt  another 
expedient,  which  is,  to  separate  the  relative  pronouns  in  the  last  verse, 
and  refer  them,  not  to  their  immediate  antecedent,  but  to  a  very  remote 
one,  at  the  distance  of  several  verses.  The  only  apology  they  make 
for  this  strange  perversion  of  the  language  of  inspiration  is,  that  such 
interruptions  of  continuity  are  not  uncommon,  whereas  we  challenge 
them  to  produce  a  single  instance  of  such  a  construction,  not  merely  in 
the  New  Testament,  but  in  the  whole  compass  of  Greek  literature. 
Examples  may  possibly  be  adduced  where  the  relative  pronoun  is  con- 
nected with  an  antecedent  equally  remote,  but  none  most  assuredly 
where  its  relation  to  an  immediate  antecedent  is  so  obvious,  and  so 
natural,  that  the  true  interpretation  in  opposition  to  that  which  presents 
itself  at  first  sight  becomes  a  perfect  enigma.  Were  there  difficulties 
arising  on  each  side,  we  might  be  induced  to  acquiesce  in  a  construction 
which,  however  unnatural  or  unusual,  suggested  the  only  consistent 
sense  :  but  to  have  recourse  to  such  a  contrivance  merely  to  avoid  that 
construction,  which  is  recommended  by  every  rule  of  grammar,  and 
against  which  not  a  shadow  of  objection  lies,  except  its  repugnance  to 
hypothesis,  is  a  proceeding  at  which  liberal  criticism  must  blush.     If 

*  Acts  xix.  1-fi 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  387 

such  a  mode  of  expouiiding  Scripture  were  adopted  on  other  occasions, 
it  is  difficult  to  say  what  absurdity  might  not  be  obtruded  on  the  sacred 
volume.  The  manner  in  which  the  author  of  the  Plea  criticises  the 
passage  is  such  as  might  be  expected  from  the  advocate  of  so  hopeless  a 
cause.  He  neither  ventures  to  quote  it,  nor  to  make  the  slightest  remark 
on  its  principal  clauses ;  but  contents  himself  with  putthig  a  speech  into 
the  mouth  of  St.  Paul,  in  which  every  thing  runs  perfectly  smooth  and 
easy  ;  and  since  it  is  much  easier  to  make  speeches  than  to  elucidate 
difficulties,  or  establish  paradoxes,  we  commend  his  policy.  His  only 
remaining  effort  is  confined  to  the  introduction  of  a  parallel  passage ; 
but  unfortunately  it  turns  out  that  his  pretended  parallel  affords  an  ex- 
ample of  as  plain  and  obvious  a  construction  of  words  as  is  to  be  found 
in  the  sacred  pages.  It  is  a  passage  which,  instead  of  presenting  a 
choice  of  difficulties,  difficulties  of  his  kind  I  mean,  where  grammar  is 
on  one  side  and  hypothesis  on  the  other,  suggests  a  sense  in  which  all 
mankind  have  acquiesced — a  sense  which  no  degree  of  stupidity  can 
miss  or  artifice  evade.*  The  only  resemblance  it  bears  to  the  portion 
of  history  under  consideration  is,  that  it  relates  a  similar  incident,  where 
certain  persons  who  had  been  baptized  had  not  yet  received  the  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  To  attempt  the  defence  of  a  most  unnatural  interpreta 
tion  of  Greek  words,  not  by  an  appeal  to  a  passage  which  exhibits  a 
similar  peculiarity  of  construction,  but  merely  a  similarity  of  occurrence, 
is  egregious  trifling. 

To  the  argument  founded  on  the  extreme  improbability  that  none  of 
the  numerous  converts  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  were  previously  disci 
pies  of  John,  no  reply  is  attempted. 

I  cannot  dismiss  this  subject  without  noticing  the  extreme  deficiency 
of  information  respecting  the  history  of  religious  opinions  this  author 
evinces,  when  he  stigmatizes  the  sentiments  advanced  as  a  modern 
theory.  They  are  so  far  from  meriting  that  reproach,  that  they  boast 
the  suffrages  of  all  the  fathers,  without  exception,  who  have  touched 
upon  the  subject;  nor  would  it  be  easy  to  discover  a  single  divine,  pre- 
vious to  the  Reformation,  by  whom  they  were  not  embraced  ;  and  since 
that  period  they  have  received  the  sanction  of  a  Grotius,  a  Hammond, 
a  Whitby,  a  Doddridge,  a  Chillingworth,  and  a  multitude  of  other  names 
of  nearly  equal  celebrity.  On  an  accurate  inquiry,  it  will  probably  be 
found  that  the  absurd  interpretation  of  the  passage  we  have  just  been 
considering,  which  is  so  necessary  to  the  support  of  the  opposite  hy- 
pothesis, originated  in  the  horror  excited  at  the  conduct  of  the  Anabap- 
tists at  Munster,  by  which  certain  divines  of  the  Reformation  felt  them- 
selves strongly  disposed  to  shun  whatever  might  bear  the  semblance  or 
colour  of  anabaptism;  that,  in  shoi't,  the  doctrine  here  advanced  is  the 
revival  of  an  ancient,  rather  than  the  invention  of  a  new,  opinion. 

To  the  sincere  inquirer  the  aiuiquity  or  the  novelty  of  a  doctrine 
will  appear  a  consideration  of  little  moment,  compared  to  the  evidence 

*  Tliis  wonder-working  pass(io;e  is  as  follows : — "  Now  when  the  apostles  which  were  at  Jerusa- 
lem heard  that  Sainaria  had  recuived  the  word  of  God,  they  sent  unto  them  Peter  and  John :  who, 
wlieii  they  were  coino  down,  pruyed  for  them,  that  Ihey  might  receive  tlie  Holy  Ghost  ((or  as  yet  he 
was  fallen  upon  none  of  them  :  only  they  were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus).  Then  laiiJ 
hey  their  hands  on  them,  and  they  received  the  Holv  Gliost." — Acts  viii.  M-17 

B  I)  -i 


339  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM 

by  which  it  is  supported ;  yet,  as  a  natural  prejudice  exists  against 
violent  departures  from  the  ancient  course  of  interpretation,  it  is  but  just 
to  endeavour  as  much  as  possible  to  disengage  the  cause  of  truth  from 
this  encumbrance. 

The  author  of  the  Pica  expresses  a  sort  of  horror  at  the  thouglit  of 
a  plurality  of  baptisms,  forgetting,  it  should  seem,  that  the  doctrine  of 
baptisms,  in  die  plural  number,  is  placed  by  St.  Paul  among  the  first 
principles  of  the  oracles  of  God.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  to  what 
baptisms  he  could  refer,  except  those  which  are  the  subject  of  the 
present  discussion :  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  which  was  the  highest 
gift  of  God,  could  with  little  propriety  be  termed  a  doctrine,  much  less 
enumerated  among  the  first  principles  of  Christianity ;  and  the  Jewish 
washings  constituted  no  part  of  that  system. 

Having  presented  the  reasons  on  which  the  baptism  of  John  was 
affirmed  to  be  essentially  distinct  from  the  Christian  ordinance  at  so 
much  length,  it  is  high  time  to  relieve  the  attention  of  the  reader  by 
dismissing  the  subject. 

There  is  one  more  observation,  and  one  only,  to  which  the  author 
requests  his  attention.  If  Ave  admit  that  the  Jewish  people  were  bap- 
tized in  the  name  of  Christ,  considering  the  prodigious  multitudes  who 
repaired  to  John  for  that  purpose,  the  conduct  of  a  gTeat  part  of  that 
nation  must  be  viewed  in  a  new  light ;  and  instead  of  being  chargeable 
with  a  uniform  rejection  of  the  Messiah,  they  must  be  considered  as 
apostates ;  upon  this  supposition,  they  violated  the  most  sacred  engage- 
ments, and  impiously  crucified  their  Prince,  after  consecrating  them- 
selves to  his  service  by  the  most  awful  solemnities.  The  evangelist 
informs  us  that  "he  came  to  his  own,  but  his  own  received  him  not;" 
but  the  more  accurate  statement  would  have  been,  that  they  first  re- 
ceived, and  afterward  rejected  him  ;  received  him  on  the  testimony  of 
the  forerunner,  and  rejected  him  after  witnessing  the  immaculate  purity 
of  his  life,  the  wisdom  of  his  discourses,  and  the  splendour  of  his 
miracles. 

There  is  attached  to  apostacy  a  character  of  perfidy  and  baseness 
peculiar  to  itself — a  species  of  guilt  which  the  inspired  writers  fre- 
quently paint  in  the  darkest  colours  ;  yet,  strange  to  tell !  though  they 
had  no  motives  to  conceal  or  palliate  the  conduct  of  their  countrymen, 
in  their  treatment  of  the  Messiah,  but  many  motives  to  the  contrary, 
not  a  syllable  escapes  them  of  the  charge  of  apostacy.  What  terrible 
energy  would  that  accusation  have  lent  to  St.  Peter's  address  !  Wliat 
unspeakable  advantage  for  alarming  their  consciences  would  he  have 
derived  from  reminding  them  of  their  baptismal  vows,  and  of  their  un- 
speakable impiety  in  crucifying  the  divine  Person  to  whom  they  had 
previously  dedicated  themselves  in  solemn  rites  of  religion.  When  St. 
Paul  in  writing  to  the  Thessalonians  gives  loose  to  one  of  his  finest 
bursts  of  indignant  feeling  and  rapid  eloquence,  in  a  brief  portraiture 
of  the  character  of  his  countrymen,  the  circumstance  which  would 
have  given  incredible  force  to  the  picture  is  suppressed ;  and  not  having 
perused  the  author  of  the  Plea,  he  seems  to  entertain  no  suspicion  of 
their  having  been  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  It  is  not  less  unac- 
countable that  the  ancient  prophets  contain  no  allusion  to  this  event,  but 


AND  THAT  OF  JOHN.  389 

describe  the  future  rejection  of  the  Messiah  as  coeval  with  his  appear- 
ance ;  and  that  tlie  most  singular  fact  in  sacred  history  is  neither  the 
subject  of  narration  nor  of  prophecy,  but  was  reserved  for  the  detection 
of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Having  replied  to  this  anonymous  writer  on  every  particular  con- 
nected with  the  baptism  of  John,  it  is  unnecessary  to  trouble  the  reader 
by  animadverting  on  the  other  parts  of  his  performance  :  the  few  ob- 
servations it  contains  which  are  pertinent  to  the  subject  are  too  loose 
and  superficial  to  deserve  attention,  especially  since  a  work  is  announced 
by  a  writer  who  will  probably  discuss  the  remaining  topics  with  supe- 
rior ability.  We  shall  notice  only  two  circumstances,  illustrative  of 
the  author's  management  of  the  controversy.  He  devotes  his  first 
section  to  a  synopsis  of  the  principles  advanced  in  the  treatise  On 
Terms  of  Cominimion ;  which  he  has  extended  to  the  number  of  four- 
teen. Several  of  these,  disguised  by  a  little  variety  of  language,  are 
identically  the  same ;  some  grossly  misrepresented ;  and  all  of  them 
expressed,  not  in  the  terms  of  the  author,  but  in  such  as  are  adapted 
to  give  them  as  much  of  the  air  of  paradox  as  possible.  It  is  obvious 
that  he  who  wishes  to  judge  of  them  fairly  must  view  them  in  their 
proper  place,  accompanied  with  their  respective  proofs  and  illustrations  ; 
and  that  to  tear  them  from  their  connexion,  and  exhibit  them  in  a  naked 
form,  though  they  liad  been  expressed  in  the  author's  own  terms,  is  a 
direct  appeal  to  prejudice.  The  obvious  design  is  to  deter  the  reader  at 
the  outset,  and  to  dispose  him  to  prejudge  the  cause  before  it  is  heard. 
To  mingle  in  the  course  of  a  controversy  insinuations  and  innuendoes 
which  have  no  other  tendency  than  to  impair  the  impartiality  of  the 
reader  is  too  common  an  artifice ;  but  such  an  open,  barefaced  appeal 
to  popular  prejudice  is  of  rare  occurrence.  It  is  an  expedient  to  which 
no  man  will  condescend  who  is  conscious  of  possessing  superior  re- 
sources. To  this  part  of  his  performance  no  reply  will  be  expected ; 
for  though  the  author  feels  himself  fully  equal  to  the  task  of  answering 
his  opponent,  he  confesses  himself  quite  at  a  loss  to  answer  himself. 
Like  a  certain  animal  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  world,  who  is  reported 
to  be  extremely  fond  of  climbing  a  tree  for  that  purpose,  he  merely 
pelts  the  author  with  his  own  produce. 

Another  charge,  however,  is  adduced  of  more  serious  import.  For 
presuming  to  speak  of  conditions  of  salvation,  he  is  accused  of  em- 
ploying anti-evangelical  language,  and  suspicions  of  his  orthodoxy  are 
pretty  broadly  insinuated.  When  the  term  conditions  of  salvation,  or 
words  of  similar  import,  are  employed,  he  wishes  it  once  for  all  to 
be  clearly  understood  that  he  utterly  disclaims  the  notion  of  meritorious 
conditions,  and  that  he  intends  by  that  term  only  what  is  necessary  in 
the  established  order  of  means,  a  sine  qua  nan,  that  v/ithout  which 
another  thing  cannot  take  place.  When  thus  defined,  to  deny  there 
are  conditions  of  salvation,  is  not  to  approach  to  antinomianism  merely, 
it  is  to  fall  into  the  gulf.  It  is  nothing  less  than  a  repeal  of  all  the 
sanctions  of  revelation,  of  all  the  principles  of  moral  government.  Let 
the  idea  of  conditional  salvation,  in  the  sense  already  explained,  be 
steadily  rejected  along  with  the  term,  and  the  patrons  of  the  worst  of 


390  CHRISTIAN  BAPTISM  AND  THAT  OF  JOHN. 

lieresies  will  have  nothing  further  to  demand.  That  repentance,  faith, 
and  their  fruits  in  a  holy  life,  supposing  life  to  be  continued,  are  essen- 
tial prerequisites  to  eternal  happiness,  is  a  doctrine  inscribed  as  with  a 
siuibeani  in  every  page  of  revelation  ;  and^niust  we,  in  deference  to  the 
propagators  of  an  epidemic  pestilence,  be  doomed  to  express  by  ob- 
scure and  feeble  circumlocutions  a  truth  which  one  word  will  convey, 
especially  when  that  word,  or  others  of  a  precisely  similar  meaning,  has 
been  current  in  the  productions  of  unquestionable  orthodoxy  and  piety 
in  every  age  1  The  author  is  at  a  loss  to  conceive  on  what  principle, 
or  for  what  reason,  dangerous  concessions  are  due  to  antinomianism ; 
that  thick-skinned  monster  of  the  ooze  and  the  mire,  which  no  weapon 
can  pierce,  no  discipline  can  tame.  If  it  be  replied.  Why  adhere  to  an 
offensive  term,  when  its  meaning  may  be  expressed  in  other  words,  or 
at  least  by  a  more  circuitous  mode  of  expression  ?  the  obvious  answer 
is,  that  words  and  ideas  are  closely  associated ;  and  that,  though  ideas 
give  birth  to  terms,  appropriate  terms  become  in  their  turn  the  surest 
safeguard  of  ideas,  insomuch  that  a  truth  which  is  never  announced 
but  in  a  circuitous  and  circumlocutory  form  will  either  have  no  hold, 
or  a  very  feeble  one,  on  the  public  mind.  The  anxiety  with  whic?i  the 
precise,  the  appropriate  term  is  avoided  bespeaks  a  shrinking,  a  tim- 
idity, a  distrust,  with  relation  to  the  idea  conveyed  by  it,  which  will  be 
interpreted  as  equivalent  to  its  disavowal.  While  antinomianism  is 
making  such  rapid  strides  through  the  land,  and  has  already  con\atlsed 
and  disorganized  so  many  of  our  churches,  it  is  not  the  season  for  half- 
measures  ;  danger  is  to  be  repelled  by  intrepid  resistance,  by  stern  de- 
fiance, not  by  compliances  and  concessions :  it  is  to  be  opposed,  if 
opposed  successfully,  by  a  return  to  the  wholesome  dialect  of  purer 
times.  Such  is  the  intimate  alliance  between  words  and  things  that 
the  solicitude  with  which  the  term  condition  and  others  cf  similar  im- 
port have  been  avoided  by  some  excellent  men,  has  contributed  more 
than  a  little  to  the  growth  of  this  wide-spreading  pestilence.  As  almost 
every  age  of  the  church  is  marked  by  its  appropriate  visitation  of 
error,  so,  little  penetration  is  requisite  to  perceive  that  antinomianism 
is  the  epidemic  malady  of  the  present,  and  that  it  is  an  evil  of  gigantic 
size  and  deadly  malignity.  It  is  qualified  for  mischief  by  the  very 
properties  which  might  seem  to  render  it  merely  an  object  of  contempt — 
its  vulgarity  of  conception,  its  paucity  of  ideas,  its  determined  hostility  to 
taste,  science,  and  letters.  It  includes,  within  a  compass  which  every 
head  can  contain  and  every  tongue  can  utter,  a  system  which  cancels 
every  moral  tie,  consigns  the  whole  human  race  to  the  extremes  of 
presumption  or  despair,  erects  religion  on  the  ruins  of  morality,  and  im- 
parts to  the  dregs  of  stupidity  all  the  powers  of  the  most  active  poison. 
The  author  will  ever  feel  himself  honoured  by  whatever  censures  he 
may  incur  through  his  determined  opposition  to  such  a  system. 


A    REPLY 

TO 

THE    REV.    JOSEPH    KINGHORN 

BEING 

A  FURTHER  VINDICATION  OF  THE  PRACTICE 

OF 

FREE  COMMUNION 


"  Forasmuch  then  as  God  gave  them  the  like  gift  as  he  did  unto  us  who  beh'evefl  on  the  Lord 
Jeeiis  Clirist,  what  was  I,  that  I  should  withstand  God  V — Acts  xi.  17. 


[Published  in  1818/ 


PREFACE. 


After  announcing  an  intention  of  replying  to  Mr.  Ivinghorn,  the 
public  seem  entitled  to  some  account  of  the  causes  which  have  delayed 
its  execution  so  long.  Various  conjectures  have  probably  arisen  on  the 
subject.  By  many,  no  doubt,  it  has  been  suspected  that  the  delay  was 
occasioned  by  a  perception  of  the  difficulty  of  constructing  an  answer 
which  would  be  deemed  satisfactory,  and  that  the  engagement  to  reply 
was  made  without  anticipating  so  formidable  an  opposition.  That  the 
author  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  deterred  by  a  feeling  of  difficulty,  it  is 
impossible  to  deny ;  but  the  reader  is  probably  not  aware  in  what  the 
difficulty  lay.  It  had  no  relation  to  the  argumentative  force  of  Mr. 
Kinghorn's  production,  in  whatever  degree  it  may  be  supposed  to  pos- 
sess that  attribute,  but  solely  to  the  manner  in  which  he  has  chosen  to 
conduct  the  debate.  The  perpetual  recurrence  of  the  same  matter,  the 
paucity  of  distinct  and  intelligible  topics  of  argument,  together  with  an 
obvious  want  of  coherence,  and  of  dependence  of  one  part  on  another, 
give  to  the  whole  the  air  of  a  series  of  skirmishing  and  desultory 
attacks,  rather  than  of  regailar  combat ;  rendering  it  difficult  to  impart 
that  order  and  continuity  to  a  reply,  in  the  absence  of  which  argu- 
mentative discussions  are  insufferably  tedious.  With  the  eagerness  of 
a  professed  pleader,  he  has  availed  himself  of  every  topic  which  could 
afford  the  slightest  colour  of  support  to  his  cause,  with  little  scrupu- 
losity, apparently,  respecting  the  soundness  of  the  principles  from 
which  he  argues.  In  a  word,  he  has  conducted  his  share  of  the  warfare 
in  a  manner  which  renders  him  more  formidable  from  the  irregularity 
and  quickness  of  his  movements,  than  from  the  steady  pressure  of  his 
columns. 

Though  he  has  advanced  some  new  and,  as  they  appear  to  me, 
paradoxical  positions,  the  space  which  they  occupy  is  so  small,  com- 
pared to  that  which  he  has  allotted  to  arguments  and  objections  dis^ 
tinctly  noticed  and  replied  to  in  my  former  treatise,  that  it  seemed  almost 
impracticable  to  answer  the  greater  part  of  the  work  without  a  frequent 
recurrence  to  what  had  been  already  advanced.  But  a  writer  is  never 
more  certain  of  disgusting  than  when  he  is  the  echo  of  himself. 

On  these  accounts,  had  my  private  conviction  dictated  the  course 
which  it  seemed  proper  to  pursue,  the  following  work,  instead  of 
swelling  to  its  present  bulk,  would  have  been  limited  to  some  short  stric- 
tures on  those  parts  of  his  reply  in  which  my  respectable  opponent  has 
quitted  the  track  of  his  predecessors.     But  to  this  there  were  serious 


394  KKPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KTNGHORN. 

objections.  In  the  estimation  of  multitudes,  little  qualified  to  appreciate 
the  Aveight  of  an  argument,  to  be  brief  and  to  be  superficial  are  one 
and  the  same  thing  ;  no  publication  is  admitted  to  be  solidly  answered, 
except  the  reply  bears  a  certain  proportion  to  it  in  size  and  extent ;  and 
whatever  is  not  distinctly  noticed  and  discussed,  however  irrelevant,  or 
lowcver  trivial,  is  instantly  proclaimed  unanswerable.  These  con- 
siderations determined  me  rather  to  hazard  the  imputation  of  tedious- 
ness,  than  to  attpnipt  a  very  concise  reply,  which,  however  cogent,  would 
be  construed  by  many  into  a  tacit  acknowledgment  of  my  incapacity  to 
combat  the  reasonhig  of  my  opponent.  Having,  therefore,  only  a 
choice  of  evils,  and  necessitated  either  to  make  a  large  demand  on  the 
patience  of  the  reader,  or  to  incur  the  suspicion  of  evadmg  what  could 
not  be  successfully  encountered,  I  preferred  the  former  ;  endeavouring 
at  the  same  time  to  shun,  as  much  as  possible,  a  tiresome  repetition  of 
the  same  topics  ;  with  what  success  the  public  will  determine. 

The  preceding  remarks  will  explain  one  cause  of  delay ;  to  which 
may  be  added,  a  strong  disinclination  to  controversy,  the  want  of  a 
habit  of  composition,  repeated  attacks  of  illness  at  one  period,  and 
various  avocations  and  engagements  at  another,  too  unimportant  to  be 
obtruded  on  the  attention  of  the  reader. 

It  may  also  be  remarked,  in  extenuation  of  the  charge  of  procras- 
tination, that  the  subject  is  just  as  interesting  and  important  as  when 
the  controversy  commenced.  The  evil  in  which  it  originates  is  not 
local,  nor  of  an  ephemeral  or  transitory  nature :  it  will  continue  to 
subsist,  there  is  reason  to  fear,  after  the  present  generation  is  consigned 
to  the  dust ;  and  even  the  delay  may  not  be  altogether  without  its  ad- 
vantages. Both  parties  will  have  had  leisure  to  reflect,  the  reasoning 
on  each  side  of  the  question  time  to  settle,  and  to  find  its  level  in  the 
public  mind,  undisturbed  by  that  disposition  extravagantly  to  depreciate 
and  to  extol  respectively  the  performances  it  has  given  rise  to,  which 
almost  invariably  distinguishes  the  outset  of  a  controversy.  Whatever 
appears  in  the  present  stage,  it  is  but  justice  to  consider  as  the  result 
of  more  matured  observation  and  inquiry,  compensating  in  pertinence 
and  solidity  what  it  may  want  in  vivacity  and  ardour. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  without  any  previous  knowledge  or  concert,  a 
discussion  on  the  subject  of  communion  commenced  nearly  at  the  same 
time  on  both  sides  the  Atlantic  ;  and  the  celebrated  Dr.  Mason  of  New- 
York,  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the 
western  hemisphere,  was  exertmg  the  energies  of  his  most  powerful 
mind  in  establishing  the  fundamental  position  of  the  treatise  On  Terms 
of  Communion,  almost  at  the  very  moment  that  treatise  appeared.  A 
coincidence  so  rare,  a  movement  so  simultaneous,  yet  so  unpre 
meditated,  we  cannot  but  look  upon  as  a  token  for  good,  as  an  indication 
of  the  approach  of  that  period,  so  ardently  desired  by  every  enlightened 
Christian,  when  genuine  believers  will  again  be  of  "  one  heart  and  of 
one  mind."  Let  us  hope  that  America,  the  land  of  freedom,  where  oiu 
pious  ancestors  found  an  asylum  from  the  oppression  of  intolerance, 
will  exert,  under  the  auspices  of  such  men  as  Dr.  Mason,  a  powerful 
reaction  on  the  parent  state,  and  aid  her  emancipation  from  the  relics  of 


PREFACE.  395 

that  pestilential  evil^still  cherished  and  retained  in  too  many  British 
churches. 

Independent  of  other  considerations,  that  invaluable  person  possesses 
one  obvious  advantage  over  the  author  of  the  following  performance. 
Disengaged  from  the  spurious  refinements  and  perplexing  subtleties 
which  arise  from  the  subject  of  baptism,  by  which  our  opponents 
attempt  to  evade  the  application  of  his  general  principle,  his  move- 
ments are  in  consequence  more  free  and  unfettered,  and  his  force 
operates  in  a  more  simple  direction  than  is  compatible  with  the  state  of 
the  question  as  it  respects  the  views  of  the  Baptist  denomination.  He 
fearlessly  spreads  his  sails  to  the  winds,  and  triumphs  on  the  element 
which  is  congenial  to  the  amplitude  and  grandeur  of  his  "mind.  Mine 
is  a  coasting  voyage,  in  which  the  author  feels  himself  necessitated  to 
creep  along  the  shore,  and  to  comply  with  all  its  irregularities,  in  the 
midst  of  flats  and  shoals,  and  exposed  to  perpetual  annoyance  from  the 
innumerable  small  craft  which  infest  these  shallow  waters.  The  effect 
of  the  diflerent  situations  in  which  we  are  placed  is  to  give  a  luminous 
simplicity  to  his  mode  of  conducting  the  argument,  which  forms  a 
striking  contrast,  not  only  to  the  tedious  logomachies  which  I  have  been 
compelled  to  encounter,*  but  the  manner  in  which  I  have  attempted  to 
confute  them.  It  belongs  to  a  Pascal,  and  perhaps  to  a  few  others  of 
the  same  order  of  genius,  to  invest  the  severest  logic  with  the  charms 
of  the  most  beautiful  composition,  and  to  render  the  most  profound  argu- 
mentation as  entertaining  as  a  romance.  The  author  makes  no  such 
pretension  :  having  confined  his  endeavours  to  an  attempt  to  establish 
his  assertions  by  sufficient  proof,  and  to  expose  the  sophistry  of  his 
opponent,  he  must  be  allowed  to  remind  his  readers  that  no  quality  will 
be  found  more  necessary  than  patience.  Truth,  as  far  as  he  knows 
himself,  is  his  sole  object ;  and  if  they  are  actuated  by  the  same  dispo- 
sition, though  they  will  find  little  to  amuse,  it  is  possible  they  may  meet 
with  something  to  instruct  them. 

It  "is  surprising  how  little  attention  an  inquiry  into  the  principles 
which  ought  to  regulate  our  intercourse  with  other  denominations  (a 
question  of  considerable  moment,  in  whatever  light  it  be  viewed)  has 
excited.  Though  it  has  given  birth  to  a  few  publications,  at  very 
distant  intervals,  none,  as  far  as  my  information  extends,  have  produced 
any  deep  impression,  or  any  extensive  and  permanent  effects.  On  this 
subject,  a  spirit  of  slumber  seems  to  have  oppressed  our  faculties,  from 
which  we  have  hardly  ever  completely  awoke.  From  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Bunyan's  treatise,  entitled  Water  Baptis?n  no  Bar  to  Com- 
munion, to  the  publication  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Robinson,  a  whole 
century  elapsed,  with  few  or  no  efforts  to  check  the  progress  of  the  pre- 
vailing system,  which  had  gained  so  firm  a  footing  previous  to  Mr. 
Booth's  writing,  that  he  felt  no  scruple  in  entitling  his  defence  of  that 
practice  An  Apology  for  the  Baptists.  The  majority  appear  to  have 
carried  it  with  so  high  a  hand,  that  the  few  churches  who  ventured  to 

*  Though  Dr.  Mason  was  not  led  by  the  course  of  his  argument  to  treat  of  the  question  of  mixed 
eommunion,  in  the  usual  import  of  that  phrase,  his  general  principle  not  only  necessarily  infers  it, 
but  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  learning  from  his  own  lips  his  entire  approbation  of  the  doctrine  ad 
vanced  in  Terms  of  Communion 


396  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORX. 

depart  from  the  established  usage  were  very  equivocally  acknowledged 
to  belong  to  the  general  body,  and  seem  to  have  been  content  to  pur- 
chase peace  at  tlie  price  of  silence  and  submission.  The  most  virulent 
reproaches  were  cast  upon  the  admirable  Bunyan,  during  his  own  time, 
for  presuming  to  break  the  yoke ;  and  whoever  impartially  examines 
the  spirit  of  Mr.  Booth's  Apology  will  perceive  tliat  its  venerable 
author  regards  him,  together  with  his  coadjutors  and  successors,  much 
in  the  light  of  rebels  and  insurgents ;  or,  to  use  the  mildest  terms,  as 
contumacious  despisers  of  legitimate  authority.  Mr.  Kinghorn,  in  the 
same  spirit,  evinces  an  eagerness,  at  every  turn,  to  dispute  our  title  to  be 
considered  as  complete  Baptists.  In  short,  whether  it  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  intimidation,  or  to  some  other  cause,  the  fact  is  notorious  that  the  zeal 
evinced  on  the  side  of  free  communion  has  hitherto  borne  no  proportion 
to  that  which  impels  the  advocates  of  the  opposite  system,  whose  treat- 
ment of  their  opponents,  in  most  instances,  bears  no  very  remote  re- 
semblance to  that  which  moderate  churchmen  are  accustomed  to  receive 
at  the  hands  of  their  high  church  brethren. 

Another  cause  has  probably  co-operated  towards  the  production  of 
the  same  result.  Some  whose  character  commands  the  deepest 
respect  are  known  to  deprecate  the  agitation  of  the  present  controversy, 
from  an  apprehension  of  the  injury  the  denomination  may  sustain  by 
the  exposure  of  its  intestine  dissensions.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  conceive  the  grounds  on  which  such  a  policy  can  be  justified. 
Could  the  fact  that  we  are  at  variance  among  ourselves  on  the  subject 
under  discussion  be  concealed,  something  might  be  urged  in  favour  of 
the  prudence  of  such  a  measure,  nothing  certainly  for  its  magnanimity. 
But  since  that  is  impossible,  and  whoever  is  acquainted  with  the  state 
of  the  denomination  is  aware  of  the  diversity  which  subsists  in  the 
constitution  of  our  churches  in  this  particular,  the  true  state  of  the 
question  is,  whether  that  article  of  the  Aposdes'  Creed  which  asserts 
the  communion  of  saints  is  to  be  merged  in  an  exclusive  zeal  for  bap- 
tism, and  its  systematic  violation,  in  our  judgment  at  least,  to  remain 
unnoticed  and  unchecked,  in  deference  to  party  feelings  and  interests. 
We  are  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  the  association  of  truth  with  error 
is  capable  of  benefiting  the  former ;  or  how  it  can  be  eventually  injured 
by  an  attempt  (conducted  in  a  Christian  spirit)  to  dissolve  an  alliance 
which  resembles  the  junction  of  the  living  with  the  dead.  While  the 
preservation  of  peace  is  dear  to  us,  the  interests  of  truth  are  still  more 
so  ;  and  we  would  fix  our  eyes  on  the  order  in  which  the  attributes  of 
that  celestial  wisdom  are  enumerated,  which  is  '■'•first  pure,  then 
peaceable." 

Before  closing  this  preface,  I  must  be  allowed  to  advert  to  a  circum- 
stance intimately  connected  with  the  eventual  success  of  the  cause  in 
which  I  am  embarked.  It  is  the  general  practice  of  our  churches,  what- 
ever may  be  the  sentiments  of  the  majority,  to  continue  the  practice  of 
strict  communion,  in  almost  every  instance  where  the  opposite  system 
is  incapable  of  being  introduced  with  a  perfect  unanimity ;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  it  frequently  happens  that  the  constitution  of  the  church 
continues  to  sanction  strict  communion,  while  the  sentiments  of  a  vast 


PREFACE.  397 

(iiajority  of  its  members  are  decidedly  in  favour  of  a  contrary  system : 
and  in  opposition  to  the  usage  which  obtains  on  other  occasions,  the 
private  sentiments  of  the  few  are  made  to  regulate  and  control  the  con- 
duct of  the  many.  Where,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the  propriety,  where 
the  justice  of  such  a  mode  of  proceeding?  Whatever  respect  may  be 
due  to  the  conscientious,  though  erroneous  scruples  of  an  upright  mind, 
it  is  not  easy  to  perceive  why  these  should  be  permitted  to  prescribe  to 
the  better  judgment  of  those  whom  tve  must  necessarily  consider  as 
more  enlightened. 

As  the  majority,  convinced,  as  they  are  supposed  to  be,  of  the  right 
of  all  genuine  Christians  to  communion,  must  necessarily  regard  the 
dissentients  as  being  in  error,  it  deserves  to  be  considered  in  what  man- 
ner error  ought  to  be  treated.  Ought  it  to  be  the  object  of  toleration, 
or  should  it  be  invested  with  dominion?  Surely  all  it  can  reasonably 
claim  is  the  former ;  but  when,  in  deference  to  it,  the  far  greater  part 
of  a  society  refrain  from  acting  agreeably  to  their  avowed  principles, 
and  consent  to  withhold  from  another  class  of  their  fellow-christians 
what  they  consider  as  their  undoubted  right,  they  cannot  be  said  merely 
to  tolerate  the  error  in  question ;  no,  they  in  reality  place  it  on  the 
throne — they  prostrate  themselves  before  it.  Yet,  strange  as  it  may 
appear,  such  is  at  present  the  conduct  of  Baptist  societies.  While  there 
remains  the  smallest  scantling  of  members  averse  to  open  communion, 
the  doors,  in  compliance  with  their  scruples,  continue  shut,  and  Pedo- 
baptist  candidates,  however  excellent,  or  however  numerous,  are  excluded. 

Thus  the  intolerance  of  one  class  of  Christians  is  not  only  indulged, 
but  pampered  and  caressed,  while  the  religious  profession  of  another  is 
treated  as  a  nullity.  The  incongruity  of  this  mode  of  proceeding  is  also 
extremely  obvious  in  another  view.  The  admission  of  members  in  our 
societies,  it  is  well  known,  is  determined  by  a  majority  of  suffrages, 
where  the  minority  is  expected,  and  that  most  reasonably,  quietly  to 
acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  majority.  But  in  the  case  under  pres- 
ent consideration,  where  strict  communion  is  practised  in  a  church  the 
majority  of  vvhose  members  are  of  a  contrary  persuasion,  the  eligibility, 
not  of  an  individual,  but  of  a  whole  class  of  individuals,  to  an  indefinite 
extent,  is  virtually  determined  by  the  judgment  of  the  smaller,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  larger  party. 

The  injustice  of  such  an  arrangement  will  perhaps  be  admitted ;  bul 
how,  it  will  be  asked,  can  it  be  remedied  ?  Would  it  be  proper  to  ex- 
clude such  as  feel  it  impossible,  with  a  good  conscience,  to  commune 
with  Pedobaptists,  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  latter?  Nothing  is 
more  remote  from  our  intention.  AVithout  inflicting  the  slightest  wound 
on  those  amiable  and  exemplary  persons  who  scruple  the  lawfulness  of 
that  measure,  the  remedy  appears  equally  simple  and  obvious. 

Whenever  there  is  a  decided  majority  in  a  church  whose  views  are 
in  unison  with  those  which  we  are  attempting  to  recommend,  let  them 
throw  down  the  barriers,  and  admit  pious  Pedobaptists  without  hesita- 
tion ;  and  let  those  whose  principles  deter  them  from  joining  in  such  a 
communion  receive  the  Lord's  Supper  apart,  retaining,  at  the  same  time, 
all  their  rights  and  privileges  unimpaired.     By  this  simple  expedient, 


398  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORIN. 

the  views  of  all  the  parties  will  be  met ;  the  majority  will  exert  their 
prerogative,  and  act  consistently  with  their  avowed  principles  ;  the  Pe- 
dobaptists  w  ill  obtain  their  rights  ;  and  the  abetters  of  strict  communion 
will  enjoy  that  state  of  separation  and  seclusion  which  they  covet.  By 
this  means  a  silent  revolution  may  be  effected  in  our  churches,  un- 
stained by  a  particle  of  violence  or  of  injustice.  But  while  the  present 
plan  is  pursued,  while  we  are  waiting  for  the  last  sands  of  intolerance 
to  run  out,  the  domination  of  error  and  injustice  may  be  prolonged  to  an 
interminable  period,  since,  of  all  creatures,  bigotry  is  the  most  tenacious 
of  life. 

Sudden  and  violent  reformations  are  not  only  seldom  lasting,  but  the 
mischief  which  results  and  the  disgust  they  excite  often  produce  a  re- 
action, which  confirms  and  perpetuates  the  evil  they  attempt  to  eradicate. 
For  this  reason,  great  prudence  and  moderation  are  requisite  in  every 
effort  to  meliorate  the  state  of  public  bodies.  He  who  aspires  to  remove 
their  prejudices  must  treat  them  with  tenderness  and  respect,  urgmg 
them  to  no  step  for  which  they  are  not  fully  prepared  by  a  mature  and 
M'idely-extended  conviction  of  its  propriety  ;  for  no  innovations,  however 
desirable  in  themselves,  will  be  permanently  beneficial,  the  stability  and 
perpetuity  of  which  are  not  guarantied  by  the  previous  illumination  of 
those  by  whom  they  are  adopted. 

Having  devoted  more  time  and  attention  to  the  present  controversy 
already  than  many  are  disposed  to  think  it  entitled  to,  it  is  by  no  means 
my  intention  to  renew  it,  conceiving  it  a  contemptible  ambition  to  deter- 
mine to  have  the  last  word,  which  is  nothing  less  than  to  aspire  at  a 
pre-eminence  in  pertinacity.  Resting  with  perfect  confidence  on  the 
truth  and,  consequently,  on  the  ultimate  triumphs  of  the  principles  which 
I  have  attempted  to  defend,  the  detection  of  incidental  mistakes  and  the 
exposure  of  minor  errors  Avill  not  disturb  my  repose,  however  justly 
they  may  awaken  a  feeling  of  regret  that  the  powers  of  the  advocate 
were  not  more  commensurate  with  the  merits  of  the  cause. 

If  the  author  has  been  on  any  occasion  betrayed,  in  the  ardour  of 
debate,  into  language  which  the  reader  may  deem  disrespectful  to  his 
opponent,  it  will  give  him  real  concern.  He  knows  none  whose  char- 
acter entitles  him  to  higher  esteem ;  nor  is  he  insensible  to  the  value 
of  those  expressions  of  personal  regard  with  which  Mr.  Kinghorn  has 
honoured  him,  nor  of  that  general  mildness  and  urbanity  which  is  at 
once  the  character  of  his  mind  and  of  his  performance.  Aware  of  the 
tendency  of  controversy  to  alienate  the  parties  from  each  other  who 
engage  in  it,  it  is  matter  of  regret,  on  that  account,  and  on  that  only, 
that  it  was  my  lot  to  meet  with  an  antagonist  in  Mr.  Kinghorn.  In 
every  other  respect,  it  is  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  the  cause  of  truth  ; 
for  while  his  temper  affords  a  security  from  that  virulence  and  those 
personalities  which  are  the  opprobrium  of  theological  debate,  his  talents 
ensure  his  doing  justice  to  his  cause,  perhaps  beyond  any  other  person 
of  the  same  persuasion.  A  very  different  performance,  in  many  respects, 
was  anticipated,  it  is  true ;  nor  could  the  extraordinary  assertions,  not 
to  say  adventurous  paradoxes  he  has  hazarded,  fail  to  excite  surprise ; 
although  his  character  exempts  him  from  the  suspicion  of  that  arrogance 


PREFACE.  399 

and  conceit  in  which  they  usually  originate.  They  are  rather  to  be  as- 
cribed to  a  dissatisfaction  (which  he  dares  pot  pretend  to  conceal)  with 
former  apologists  ;  and  a  determination,  if  possible,  to  compass  the  same 
object  by  a  different  route.  The  intelligent  reader  will  probably  be  of 
opinion,  that  he  has  attempted  to  give  an  air  of  originality  to  what  was 
not  susceptible  of  it ;  and  that,  aiming  to  enrich  and  support  a  most 
meager  and  barren  thesis  by  new  arguments,  he  is  reduced  to  the  same 
necessity  as  the  Israelites,  of  "  making  bricks  without  straw." 

Having  already  made  the  porch  too  large  for  the  building,  one  addi- 
tional remark  only  is  submitted  to  the  attention  of  the  reader,  previous 
to  his  entrance  on  the  foUowmg  discussion.  The  little  success  which 
has  attended  our  exhibition  of  the  doctrine  of  baptism,  continued  now  for 
many  generations,  deserves  the  serious  consideration  of  every  hitelligent 
Baptist.  With  all  our  efforts,  with  all  the  advantage  of  overwhelming 
evidence  (as  appears  to  me)  in  favour  of  our  sentiments,  the  pros- 
pect of  their  reception  by  dissenting  communities  (to  say  nothing  of 
established  churches,  where  there  are  peculiar  impediments  to  be 
encountered)  is  as  distant  as  ever :  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether, 
since  the  recent  revival  of^  religion,  our  progress  is  in  a  fair  pro- 
portion to  that  of  other  denominations.  It  may  be  possible  to  assign 
the  second  causes  of  this  remarkable  event ;  but  as  second  causes 
are  always  subservient  to  the  intentions  of  the  first,  it  deserves  our  se- 
rious consideration  whether  we  are  not  labouring  under  the  sensible 
frown  of  the  great  Head  of  the  church ;  and  '■-  is  there  not  a  cause  ?" 
A  visible  inferiority  to  other  Christians  in  zeal  and  piety  will  scarcely 
be  imputed  ;,  nor  have  we  been  left  destitute  of  that  competent  measure 
of  learning  and  talent  requisite  to  the  support  of  our  doctrines.  The 
cause  of  our  failure,  then,  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  that  quarter.  But 
though  we  have  not  "  drank  whh  the  drunken,"  if  we  have  unwittingly 
"beaten  our  fellow-servants,"  by  assuming  a  dominion  over  their  con- 
science ;  if  we  have  severed  ourselves  from  the  members  of  Christ,  and 
under -pretence  of  preserving  the  pvu-ity  of  Christian  ordinances,  vio- 
lated the  Christian  spirit ;  if  we  have'  betrayed  a  lamentable  want  of 
that  "  love  which  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  by  denying  a  place  in  our 
churches  to  those  who  belong  to  the  "  church  of  the  first-born,"  and 
straitening  their  avenue,  till  it  has  become  narrower  than  the  way 
to  heaven;  we  may  easily  account  for  all  that  has  followed,  and  have 
more  occasion  to  be  surprised  at  the  compassionate  Redeemer's  bear- 
ing with  our  infirmities,  than  at  his  not  bestowing  a  signal  blessing 
on  our  labours. 


PART   I 

THE  FUNDAMENTAL  POSITION;  OR,  THE  SUPPOSED  NECES- 
SARY CONNEXION  BETWEEN  THE  TWO  POSITIVE  INSTT- 
TIJTES  OF  CHRISTIANITY  EXAMINED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Remarks  on  Mr.  Kinghorri's  Statement  of  the  Controversy. 

Perfectly  concurring  in  opinion  with  Mr.  Kinghorn,  that  it  is  of 
importance  that  the  point  in  debate  be  fairly  stated,  a  few  remarks,  de- 
signed to  show  in  what  respects  his  statement  is  inaccurate  or  defective, 
will  not  be  deemed  irrelevant.  He  justly  observes,  that  the  question, 
and  the  only  question,  is,  whether  those  who  are  acknowledged  to  be 
unhaptized  ought  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table.  After  stating  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Pedobaptists,  he  proceeds  to  observe  that  the  "  Baptists 
act  on  a  different  plan  ;  they  think  that  baptism  ought  to  be  administered 
to  those  only  who  profess  repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  it  should  be  administered  to  them  on  such 
profession  by  immersion.  And  then,  and  not  before,  they  consider  such 
persons  properly  qualified,  according  to  the  New  Testament,  for  the 
reception  of  the  Lord's  Supper."  The  last  position,  Mr.  Kinghorn  is 
aware,  is  not  maintained  by  tlie  Baptists  as  such,  but  by  part  of  them 
only :  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  be  the  sentiment  of  the  majority. 
Why  then  identify  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  with  the  body,  as 
though  the  abetters  of  a  contrary  practice'were  too  inconsiderable  to  be 
mentioned,  or  were  not  entitled  to  be  considered  as  Baptists  ? 

It  is  but  just,  however,  to  remark,  that  this  disposition  to  enlarge  the 
number  of  his  partisans  is  not  peculiar  to  this  w^riter.  Mr.  Booth,  when 
engaged  in  defending  a  thesis  about  which  the  Baptists  had  long  been 
divided,  chose,  in  the  same  spirit,  to  denominate  his  performance  An 
Apology  for  the  Baptists.* 

Our  author  proceeds  to  observe,  "  Here  arises  a  controversy  between 
the  two  parties,  not  only  respecting  baptism,  but  also  respecting  their 
conduct  to  each  other  on  the  subject  of  communion."  Where,  let  me 
ask,  are  the  traces  to  be  found  of  this  imaginary  controversy  between 
Baptists  and  Pedobaptists  on  that  subject?  That  they  have  been  often 
engaged  in  acrimonious  disputes  with  each  other  on  the  point  of  baptism 
is  certain ;  but  of  the  history  of  this  strange  debate  about  terms  of  com- 
munion the  public  are  totally  ignorant.     What  are  the  names  of  the 

*  Who  would  expect  to  find  that  a  book  entitled  An  Apology  for  the  Baptists  chiefly  consists  of  a 
severe  reprehension  of  the  principles  and  practices  of  a  respectable  part  of  that  body' 

Vol.  I.-  -C  c 


103  KEPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

p;irti('s  (Miijagcd,  aiul  to  wliat  publications  did  it  give  birth  ?  This  authoi 
had  inroriiipd  ns  at  the  distance  of  a  few  lines,  that  the  Pcdobaptists  in 
ucnf  ral  believe  that  none  ought  to  come  to  the  Lord's  table  who  are  not 
baptized.  If  this  is  correct,  we  may  indeed  easily  conceive  of  their 
lieing  ollended  with  us  for  deeming  them  unbaptized  ;  but  how  our  refusal 
.()  admit  them  to  communion  should  become  the  subject  of  debate  is 
utterly  mysterious.  Did  they,  in  contradiction  to  the  fundamental  laws 
of  reasoning,  attempt  to  persuade  us  to  act  in  contradiction  to  the  prin- 
ciples agreed  upon  by  both  parties?  The  supposhion  is  impossible. 
The  truth  is — nor  could  the  writer  be  ignorant  of  it — that  the  dispute 
respecting  communion  existed  in  our  own  denomination,  and  in  that  only. 
An  attempt  is  made  to  represent  the  advocates  of  mixed  communion 
as  divided  among  themselves,  and  as  resting  the  vindication  of  their 
conduct  on  opposite  grounds.  In  stating  their  views,  Mr.  Kinghorn 
observes,  "  that  as  their  Pedobaptist  brethren  think  themselves  baptized, 
they  are  willing  to  admit  them  on  that  ground,  since  they  do  not  object 
to  baptism  itself,  but  only  differ  from  others  in  the  circumstances  of  the 
ordinance." 

"  Some,"  he  adds,  "  lay  down  a  still  wider  principle,  that  baptism  has 
no  connexion  with  church  communion  ;  and  that  in  forming  a  Christian 
church,  the  question  ought  not  to  be.  Are  these  Christians  who  wish  to 
unite  in  church-fellowship  baptized,  whatever  that  term  is  considered  as 
meaning — but,  Are  they,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  real  Christians  ?"* 

Of  this  diversity  in  the  mode  of  defending  our  practice  the  writer  of 
these  pages  confesses  himself  totally  ignorant :  and  whatever  prejudices 
our  cause  may  sustain,  it  has  not  yet  been  injured  by  that  which  results 
from  intestine  dissension.  Different  modes  of  expression  may  have  been 
adopted  by  different  writers,  but  a  perfect  accordance  of  principle,  a 
coincidence  in  the  reasons  alleged  for  our  practice,  has  pervaded  our 
■apologies.  We  have  not,  like  our  opponents,  professed  to  take  new 
ground  -.f  we  have  not  constructed  defences  so  totally  dissimilar  as  the 
publications  of  a  Booth  and  a  Kinghorn,  where  the  argument  which  is 
placed  in  the  very  front  by  the  former  is  by  the  latter  abandoned  as 
untenable.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  alleged  disagreement  in  our 
principles  is  a  mere  phantom.  AVhile  we  universally  maintain  the 
nullity  of  infant  baptism,  the  persuasion  which  our  Pedobaptist  brethren 
entertain  of  their  being  baptized  can  never  be  mistaken  for  baptism, 
and  they,  consequently,  cannot  be  received  in  the  character  of  baptized 
persons.  Our  constant  practice  of  administering  immersion  to  such,  on 
a  change  of  sentiment,  w^ould  on  that  supposition  convict  us  at  once  of 
being  Anabaptists.  It  is  not  then  under  any  idea  that  they  have  really 
partaken  of  that  ordinance,  more  than  the  people  called  Quakers,  that 
we  admit  them,  to  our  communion ;  but  in  the  character  of  sincere, 
though  mistaken  (christians,  who  have  evinced,  even  with  respect  to  the 
particular  in  which  we  deem  them  erroneous,  no  disposition  to  treat  a 
Christian  rite  with  levity  or  neglect :  and  if  there  are  those  who  would 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  11,  12. 

t  "  TliP  reader  who  is  acquainted  with  the  Apology  for  the  Baptists,  written  by  the  late  venerable 
Abraham  Booth,  will  find  th.it  in  the  following  pages  I  have  taken  ground  somewhat  different  from 
(lis.     I  have  adopted  rather  a  different  mode  of  defence."— iJ«p/jsm  a  Term  of  Communion,  p  8 


KEPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  408 

refuse  to  commune  with  such  as  reject  the  ordinance  altogether,  it  is 
because  they  suspect  them  of  such  a  disposition.  As  there  can  be  no 
degrees  in  nothing,  they  are  not  so  weak  as  to  suppose  that  one  class  is 
in  reality  more  baptized  than  tlie  other  ;  but  one  is  supposed  to  mistake 
die  nature  of  an  institute,  which  the  otlier  avovvedly  neglects.  In  this 
case  he  who  is  prepared  to  believe  that  the  omission  of  Christian  bap- 
tism from  a  notion  of  its  not  being  designed  for  perpetuity  may  consist 
with  that  deference  to  divine  authority  which  is  essential  to  a  Christian, 
will  receive  both  without  hesitation :  he  who  is  incapable  of  extending 
his  candour  so  far  will  make  a  distinction ;  he  will  admit  the  Pedo- 
baptist,  while  he  rejects  the  person  who  purposely  omits  the  ceremony 
altogether.  Whichever  measure  we  adopt,  we  act  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple, and  merely  apply  it  with  more  or  less  extent,  according  to  the 
comprehension  of  our  charity.  If  we  supposed  there  were  a  necessary, 
unalterable  connexion  between  the  two  positive  Christian  institutes,  so 
that  none  were  qualified  for  communion  who  had  not  been  previously 
baptized,  we  could  not  hesitate  for  a  moment  respecting  the  refusal  of 
Pedobaptists,  without  renouncing  the  principles  of  our  denomination. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  among  such  as  are  supposed  to  be  equally  unbap- 
tized  we  admit  some  and  reject  others,  this  difference  must  be  derived, 
not  from  the  consideration  of  baptism,  but  of  personal  character ;  in 
other  words,  from  our  supposing  ourselves  to  possess  that  evidence  of 
the  piety  of  the  party  accepted  which  is  deficient  in  the  other.  Hence 
it  is  manifest  that  nothing  can  be  more  simple  and  intelligible  than  the 
principles  on  which  we  proceed,  which  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  pre- 
clude every  other  diversity  of  opinion,  except  Avhat  regards  their  appli- 
cation in  particular  instances. 

He  who  mistakes  the  nature  of  a  positive  institute  is  in  a  different 
predicament  of  error  from  him  who  avowedly  rejects  it  altogether;  the 
imperfection  which  claims  toleration  in  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  is 
different  in  its  nature  from  that  which  attaches  to  such  as  are  disposed 
to  set  the"  ordinance  aside.  It  is  very  possible,  therefore,  that  some  may 
be  willing  to  extend  their  indulgence  to  what  appears  to  them  the  least 
of  two  errors,  while  they  refuse  toleration  to  the  greater ;  and,  on  this 
ground,  admit  a  Pedobaptist,  while  they  scruple  to  receive  him  who 
does  not  even  profess  to  be  baptized.  But  in  making  such  a  distinction, 
no  intelligent  Baptist  would  be  moved  by  the  consideration  of  one  of 
these  parties  being  baptized  and  the  other  not  (for  this  would  be  ad- 
mitting the  validity  of  infant  baptism),  but  solely  by  the  different  estimate 
he  made  of  the  magnitude  of  the  respective  errors.  Some  would  probably 
consider  each  of  them  consistent  with  a  credible  profession  of  Christianity ; 
others  might  form  a  less  favourable  judgment.  In  this  case  the  parties 
would  act  differently,  while  they  maintained  the  same  principle,  and 
adjusted  their  practice  by  the  same  rule.* 

*  The  above  remarks  may  enable  the  reader  to  judge  cjf  the  justice  with  which  Mr.  Kinghorn  as- 
serts, or  insinuates,  our  total  disagreement  respecting  the  fundamental  principle  on  which  we  justify 
our  practice.  "Among  the  Baptists,"  he  says,  "  who  plead  for  mixed  communion,  1  apprehend  few 
will  be  found  who  would  fairly  take  Mr.  Hall's  principle  in  all  its  consequences.  In  general,  they 
palliate,  and  plead  that  many  good  men  think  themselves  baptized,  and  they  are  willing  to  accept 
Ihem  on  that  footing,  leaving  it  to  their  own  consciences  to  decide  whether  they  had  received  such 
baptism  as  the  word  of  God  required  ;  and  they  will  hafdly  admit  the  possibility  of  any  case  occurring 

Cc  2 


40-1  REl'IA    ro  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORIV. 

Tl  is  somewhat  extraordinary,  that  after  stating  tlio  principle  on  which 
my  treatise  on  Communion  was  founded,  Mr.  Kinghorn  makes  his  first 
appeal  to  tlie  Pedobaptists,  and  asks  whether  they  are  prepared  to 
acknowledge  that  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  have  no  connexion. 
To  what  purpose  is  a  question  referred  to  a  class  of  persons  who  as 
far  as  concerns  the  interior  regulation  of  their  churches,  have  no  interest 
in  the  inquiry,  on  whose  practice  it  can  have  no  influence,  and  who  are 
supposed  by  both  the  parties  concerned  to  be  in  an  error  respecting  the 
institution  itself,  which  has  given  occasion  to  the  discussion?  The 
confidence  with  which  he  anticipates  their  favourable  suffrage  appears 
however  to  be  ill  founded;  and  if  the  Evangelical  Magazine  for  1803 
is  supposed  to  have  insinuated  sentiments  congenial  with  his  own,  the 
author  of  the  review  of  the  present  controversy,  in  the  same  publication, 
distinctly  and  explicitly  expressed  his  approbation  of  the  treatise  On 
Terms  of  Communion.  I  have  no  doubt  the  result  of  an  accurate  and 
extensive  inquiry  into  the  prevailing  sentiments  of  such  as  adhere  to 
infant  baptism  would  be  found  opposed  to  his  doctrine  ;  and  that  such 
of  them  as  might  object  to  the  admission  of  a  member  avowedly  unbap- 
tized  would  be  actuated  by  the  consideration  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
error,  and  not  by  the  conviction  of  a  specific  and  essential  connexion 
between  the  two  ordinances  in  question.  In  other  words,  they  would 
decide  on  the  case  upon  principles  common  to  the  advocates  of  mixed 
communion. 

His  pretence  for  calling  in  such  a  host  of  disputants  is  that  he  may 
••  clear  the  field,"  which,  in  my  humble  opinion,  will  be  best  ac- 
complished by  confining  the  debate  within  its  proper  limits  ;  regarding 
it,  agreeably  to  its  true  nature,  as  a  controversy  which  concerns  our  own 
denomination  alone,  without  attempting  to  extort  a  verdict  from  persons 
who  have  not  been  placed  in  a  situation  to  invite  their  attention  to  the 
subject.  Fortunately  for  them,  they  are  under  no  temptation  to  treat 
their  fellow-christians  with  indignity ;  whether  they  would  have  main- 
tained the  stern  inflexibility  which  is  prepared  to  sacrifice  the  com- 
munion of  saints  to  an  unfounded  hypothesis  must  be  left  to  conjecture. 
We  indulge  a  hope  that  they  would  have  hesitated  long  ere  they  ad 
mitted  a  doctrine  which  draws  after  it  such  consequences ;  that  thej 
would  have  judged  of  the  tree  by  its  fruits,  and  have  discovered  some 
better  mode  of  signalizing  their  allegiance  to  Christ  than  by  the  excision 
of  his  members.  The  tenet  to  which  we  are  opposed  produces  an 
effect  so  contrary  to  what  the  genius  of  the  gospel  teaches  us  to  an- 
ticipate, and  so  repugnant  to  the  noblest  feeling  of  the  heart,  as  to  form 

which  snould  require  their  acting  on  a  wider  principle.  And  here  also,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  and 
observation  have  extended,  I  believe  the  cases  are  very  few  in  which  the  position  would  be  fairly  and 
TioWly  adopted,  that  Chnstian  communion  ought  to  be  held  with  those  who  deny  altogether  the  obli- 
gation to  attend  to  Christian  baptism." — p.  15.  My  opportunities  of  knowing  the  sentiments  of  the 
liberal  part  of  the  Baptists  must  be  supposed  to  be  at  least  equal  to  Mr.  Kinghorn's ;  yet  I  have  not 
heard  a  single  objection  from  them  against  the  general  principle.  Exceptions  have  been  made  (ag 
might  be  expected)  to  particular  parts,  but_none  whatever  to  the  fundamental  position  of  the  treatise 
The  reason  he  assigns  for  supposing  that  many  would  not  adopt  the  general  principle  in  its  full  extent 
is  inconclusive.  To  refuse  the  communion  of  such  as  denied  the  obligation  of  baptism  altogether, 
providing  that  error  was  deemed  of  such  magnitude  as  to  induce  a  suspicion  of  the  piety  of  the  party 
would  not  be  to  contradict  the  principle  in  the  smallest  degree ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  among  the 
advocates  of  mixed  communion  the  refusal  would  proceed  nn  no  oth^r  ground.  It  is  one  thing  to  rejec. 
a  general  principle,  and  another  to  differ  iibsut  the  application  of  it  to  particular  cases 


REPLY   TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  405 

d  presumption  against  it  which  nothing  can  surmount  but  the  utmost 
force  and  splendour  of  evidence.  How  far  it  is  from  possessing  such 
support,  or  even  that  preponderation  in  the  scale  of  argument  which 
would  produce  conviction  on  the  most  trivial  subject,  it  is  the  business 
of  the  following  sheets  to  inquire. 

In  deciding  the  question,  whether  persons  w'hom  we  deem  unbaptized 
are  entitled  to  approacii  the  Lord's  table,  we  must  examine  the  connexion 
subsisting  between  the  two  positive  ordinances,  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

Our  opponents  contend  that  there  is  such  a  connexion  between  these 
as  renders  them  inseparable  ;  so  that  he  who  is  deemed  unbaptized  is, 
ipso  facto,  apart  from  any  consideration  whatever  of  the  cause  of  that 
omission,  disqualified  for  approaching  the  sacred  elements.  We  con- 
tend that  the  absence  of  baptism  may  disqualify,  and  that  it  does  dis- 
qualify, wherever  it  appears  to  proceed  from  a  criminal  motive  ;  that  is, 
wherever  its  neglect  is  accompanied  with  a  conviction  of  its  divine 
authority.  In  this  case  we  consider  the  piety  of  such  a  person  at  least 
as  doubtful ;  but  when  the  omission  proceeds  from  involuntary  prejudice 
or  mistake,  when  the  party  evinces  his  conscientious  adherence  to  known 
duty  by  the  general  tenor  of  his  conduct,  we  do  not  consider  the  mere 
absence  of  baptism  as  a  sufHcient  bar  to  communion.  On  this  ground 
we  cheerfully  receive  pious  Pedobaptists,  not  from  the  supposition  that 
the  ceremony  which  they  underwent  in  their  infancy  possesses  the 
smallest  validity,  but  as  sincere  followers  of  Christ:  and  for  my  own 
part,  I  should  feel  as  little  hesitation  in  admitting  such  as  deny  the 
perpetuity  of  baptism,  whenever  the  evidence  of  their  piety  is  equally 
clear  and  decisive. 

It  is  apparent  that  the  whole  controversy  turns  on  the  connexion 
between  the  two  positive  institutes  ;  and  that  in  order  to  justify  the  con- 
duct of  our  opponents,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  evince  the  authority  or 
perpetuity  of  each,  and  the  consequent  obligation  of  attending  to  both : 
it  is  necessary  to  show  the  dependence,  of  one  upon  the  other ;  not 
merely  that  they  are  both  clearly  and  unequivocally  enjoined,  but  that 
the  one  is  prescribed  with  a  vieio  to  the  other. 

There  are  two  methods  by  which  we  may  suppose  this  to  be  effected  ; 
either  by  showing  their  inherent  and  intrinsic  dependence,  or  by  making 
it  appear  that  they  are  connected  by  positive  law.  Between  ritual 
observances  it  is  seldom  if  ever  possible  to  discover  an  inherent  con 
nexion ;  in  the  present  case  it  will  probably  not  be  attempted.  If  the 
advocates  of  exclusive  communion  succeed,  it  must  be  in  the  last  of  these 
methods  ;  it  must  be  by  proving,  from  express  declarations  of  Scripture, 
that  baptism  is  an  invariable  and  essential  prerequisite  to  communion. 
A  .Tew  would  have  found  no  difficulty  in  establishing  this  fact  respecting 
circumcision  and  the  passover :  he  would  have  immediately  pointed  to 
the  book  of  Exodus,  where  we  find  an  express  prohibition  of  an  uncircurn- 
cised  person  from  partaking  of  the  paschal  lamb.  Let  some  sinnlar 
evidence  be  adduced  on  the  present  subject — let  some  declaration  from 
Scripture  be  exhibited  which  distinctly  prohibits  the  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  by  any  person  who,  from  a  misconception  of  its  nature, 


100  K1:PL\    '10  RKV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

lias  omit  led  tlu>  baptismal  ceiTinony,  and  tlio  controversy  will  be  at  rest 
Tlu!  reader  can  si'areely  bo  too  often  reminded  that  this  is  the  very 
hinsp  of  the  present  debate,  which  (as  appears  from  the  title  of  his 
pamphlet)  Mr.  Fuller  clearly  perceived,  however  unsuccessful  he  may 
liave  been  in  establishinii'  that  fundamental  position.  Much  that  Mr 
Kin<rliorn  has  advanced  will  be  found  to  be  totally  irrelevant  to  the 
inquiry  in  hand  ;  and  in  more  instances  than  one  the  intelligent  reader 
will  perceive  him  to  have  made  concessions  which  are  destructive  of 
his  cause.  But  let  us  proceed  to  a  careful  investigation  of  the  argu- 
icnts  by  which  he  attempts  to  establish  the  aforesaid  connexion. 


CHAPTER  II. 

His  Attempt  to  establish  the  Connexion  contended  for,  from  the  Apostotic 
Comviission  and  Primitive  Precedent. 

My  respectable  opponent  commences  this  branch  of  the  argument 
by  quoting  the  apostolic  commission,  justly  remarking,  that  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  John's  baptism,  the  ceremony  enjoined  in  that  com- 
mission must  belong,  in  the  strictest  sense,  to  the  Christian  dispensation. 
The  commission  is  as  follows : — "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you."  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.  Or,  as  it  is  recorded  in 
Luke — "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature.  He  that  believeth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved."  "  This," 
Mr.  Kinghorn  observes,  "  is  the  laiv ;  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  are  a 
commentary  on  that  law ;  not  leaving  us  to  collect  from  mere  prece- 
dents what  ought  to  be  done,  but  showing  us  how  the  law  Avas  practi- 
cally explained  by  those  who  perfectly  understood  it."  He  reminds 
-us,  "  that  in  every  instance  where  the  history  descends  to  particulars, 
we  find  they  constantlj'  adhered  to  this  rule  ;  and  that  when  they 
taught,  and  men  believed,  the  apostles  baptized  them,  and  then  further 
instructed  them  in  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  God." 

We  are  as  ready  to  allow  as  Mr.  Kinghorn  that  baptism  was  en- 
joined by  the  apostolic  commission :  we  are  perfectly  agreed  with  him 
respecting  the  law  of  baptism,  and  are  accustomed  to  explain  its  nature, 
and  enforce  its  authority,  by  the  same  arguments  as  he  himself  would 
employ.  We  have  no  controversy  with  him,  or  with  his  party,  on  the 
subject  of  baptism,  considered  apart  from  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  were 
he  disputing  with  such  as  deny  its  original  appointment,  or  its  perpe- 
tuity, the  passages  he  quotes  would  be  fully  to  his  purpose.  But  where 
the  inquiry  turns,  not  on  the  nature  or  obligation  of  baptism,  but  on  the 
necessary  dependence  of  another  institution  upon  it,  Ave  are  at  a  loss  to 
perceive  in  Avhat  manner  the  quotation  applies  to  the  question  before 
us.  To  us  it  is  inconceivable  how  any  thing  more  is  deducible  from 
the  law  of  baptism  than  its  present  and  perpetual  obligation.     The 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  407 

existence  of  a  law  establislies  the  obligation  of  a  correspondent  duty, 
and  nothing  more.  The  utmost  efforts  of  ingenuity  can  extort  no  other 
inference  from  it,  than  that  a  portion  of  blame  attaches  to  such  as  liave 
neglected  to  comply  with  it,  variable  in  its  degree  by  an  infinity  of 
circumstances  too  subtle  to  be  ascertained,  and  too  numerous  to  be 
recited.  We  feel  no  hesitation  in  avowing  our  belief  that  Pedobaptists 
of  all  denominations  have  failed  in  a  certain  part  of  their  duty  ;  for  this 
is  a  legitimate  inference  from  the  perpetuity  of  the  baptismal  ordinance, 
joined  with  our  persuasion  that  we  have  interpreted  it  correctly.  But 
if  we  are  immediately  to  conclude  from  thence  that  they  are  disquali- 
fied for  Christian  communion,  we  must  seek  a  church  which  consists 
of  members  who  have  failed  in  no  branch  of  obedience ;  and  must 
consequently  despair  of  finding  fit  communicants  apart  from  the  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect.  Examine  the  idea  of  law  with  the  utmost 
rigour,  turn  it  on  all  sides,  and  it  will  present  nothing  beyond  the  obli- 
gation to  a  certain  species  of  conduct,  so  that  if  Pedobaptists  are  really 
disqualified  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  it  must  be  for  some  other  reason 
than  their  non-compliance  with  a  law,  or  otherwise  we  must  insist  upon 
the  refusal  of  every  individual  who  has  not  discharged  all  his  obli- 
gations. To  expatiate  on  the  distinctness  and  solemnity  with  which 
the  baptismal  ceremony  was  enjoined  is  little  less  than  trifling,  in  a 
debate  with  persons  who  fully  accede  to  every  part  of  the  statement, 
and  who  wish  to  be  informed,  not  whether  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  are 
in  an  error,  but  whether  its  moral  amount,  its  specific  nature,  is  such 
as  to  annul  their  claims  to  Christian  communion.  On  this  point  the 
passages  adduced  maintain  a  profound  silence. 

If  the  practice  of  strict  communion  derives  no  support  from  the  law 
of  baptism,  it  is  impossible  it  should  derive  it  from  apostolical  precedent ; 
since  the  apostles,  as  this  author  observes,  adhered  constantly  to  the 
rule.  They  did  neither  more  nor  less  than  its  letter  enjoined  :  conse- 
quently, we  must  be  mistaken  if  we  imagine  we  can  infer  any  thing 
from  tl>eir  practice  beyond  what  a  just  and  fair  interpretation  of  its 
terms  would  suggest.  If  the  Acts  of  the  "Apostles  are,  as  Mr.  Kinghorn 
asserts,  "  a  commentary  on  the  law,  showing  us  how  it  was  practically 
explained,"  it  is  impossible  it  should  contain  a  tittle  more  than  is  found 
in  the  text.  Let  us  see  how  the  apostles  acted.  "  When  they  taught 
and  men  believed,"  says  our  author,  "the  apostles  baptized  them." 
Whom  did  they  baptize  1  Undoubtedly  such,  and  such  only,  as  were 
convinced,  not  merely  of  the  truth  of  Christianitj^  but  of  the  obligation 
of  the  particular  rite  to  which  they  attended.  This  is  precisely  what 
we  do.  When  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  any  part  of  our  hearers 
have  received  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it,  we  ])roceed  to  explain  the 
nature  and  to  enforce  the  duty  of  baptism  ;  and  upon  their  expressing 
their  conviction  of  its  divine  authority,  we  baptize  them.  Such  a  pre- 
vious conviction  is  necessary  to  render  it  a  reasonable  service.  We 
administer  that  rite  to  every  description  of  persons  whom  our  opponents 
themselves  deem  qualified,  and  withhold  it  under  no  circumstances  in 
which  the  apostles  would  have  practised  it.  Wherein  then,  as  far  as 
that  institution  is  concerned,  does  our  practice  difier  from  that  of  the 


4U8  KKIM.V  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

apostles  ?  Onv  oppononts  will  reply,  ihat  though  in  the  administration 
of  that  rite  our  conduct  corresponds  with  the  primitive  pattern,  yet 
it  diflers  in  this,  that  we  receive  the  imbapfizcd  to  our  communion, 
which  ^^  as  not  done  in  the  apostolic  age.  To  this  we  reply,  that  at 
that  period  no  good  men  entertained  a  doubt  respecting  its  nature — that 
it  was  impossible  they  should,  while  it  was  exemplified  before  their  eyes 
in  the  practice  of  the  apostles  and  the  evangelists — that  he  who 
refused  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  inspired  men  would  necessarily 
have  forfeited  his  claim  to  be  considered  as  a  Christian — that  a  new 
state  of  things  has  arisen,  in  which,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  the 
doctrine  of  baptism  has  been  involved  in  obscurity — that  some  of  the 
best  of  men  put  a  different  interpretation  on  the  language  of  Scripture 
on  this  subject  from  ourselves — and  that  it  is  great  presumption  to 
claim  the  same  deference  with  the  apostles,  and  to  treat  those  who 
differ  from  us  on  the  sense  of  Scripture  as  though  they  avowedly  op- 
posed themselves  to  apostolic  authority.  To  misinterpret  is  surely 
not  the  same  thing  as  wilfully  to  contradict ;  and  however  confident 
we  may  be  of  the  correctness  of  our  own  interpretation,  to  place  such 
as  are  incapable  of  receiving  it  on  the  same  level  with  those  who 
withstood  the  apostles  differs  little,  if  at  all,  from  the  claim  of  infallibility. 

AVe  reason,  as  -we  conceive  conclusively,  in  favour  of  adult,  in  oppo- 
sition to  infant  baptism  :  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  avow  their  inability  to 
discern  the  justice  of  our  conclusion :  and  are  they  on  that  account  to 
be  viewed  in  the  same  light  as  though  they  intentionally  rejected  the 
decision  of  inspired  men?  AVhat  is  this  but  to  set  up  a  claim  to  inspi- 
ration, or,  at  least,  to  such  an  infallible  guidance  in  the  explanation  of 
Scripture  as  is  equally  exempt  from  the  danger  of  error  or  mistake  '^ 
If  we  examine  it  accurately,  it  amounts  to  more  than  a  claim  to  infalli- 
bility :  it  implies  in  the  Pedobaptists  a  knowledge  of  this  extraordinary 
fact.  The  apostles  were  not  only  inspired,  and  consequently  infallible 
teachers,  but  were  known  and  acknowledged  to  be  such  by  tlie  primitive 
Christians:  and  before  we  presume  to  demand  an  implicit  acquiescence 
in  our  conclusions,  and  to  consider  ourselves  entitled  to  treat  dissen- 
tients as  we  suppose  the  opponents  of  the  apostles  would  have  been 
treated,  it  behooves  us  to  evince  our  possession  of  infallibility  by  similar 
evidence.  As  I  have  not  heard  of  our  opponents  making  such  an 
attempt,  I  cannot  sufficiently  express  my  surprise  at  the  loftiness  of 
their  pretensions,  and  the  arrogance  of  their  language.  In  their  dialect, 
all  Christians  besides  themselves  are  "  opposed  to  a  divine  command,"* 
"  refuse  subjection  to  Christ,  and  violate  the  laws  of  his  house."! 

The  justice  of  their  proceeding,  founded  on  the  pretension  of  apos 
tolical  precedent,  is  perfectly  congenial  with  its  modesty.  Upon  the 
supposition  that  a  professor  of  Christianity,  in  the  times  of  the  apostles, 
had  scrupled  the  admission  of  adult  baptism,  could  he,  Ave  would  ask, 
in  the  circumstances  then  existing,  have  been  considered  as  a  good  man, 
or  a  genuine  convert  ?  The  reply  will  unquestionably  be,  No.  "  He," 
said  St.  John,  "  who  is  of  God  heareth  us :  he  who  heareth  not  us  is 

'  *  Booth.  t  Kinghorn. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  409 

not  of  God :  hereby,  ye  know  the  spirit  of  truth,  and  the  spirit  of 
error." 

In  this  case,  then,  it  is  admitted  that  the  simple  fact  of  rejecting  adult 
baptism  would  have  been  sufficient  to  set  aside  a  pretension  to  the 
Christian  character.  Is  it  sufficient  now  1  Are  the  Pedobaptists  to  be 
universally  considered  as  bad  men,  or,  at  least,  as  persons  whose  Chris- 
tianity is  doubtful?  Nothing  is  more  distant  from  the  avowed  senti- 
ments of  our  opponents.  Where,  then,  is  the  justice  of  classing 
together  men  of  the  most  opposite  descriptions  ;  or  of  inferring,  that 
because  the  apostles  would  have  refused  communion  to  an  unbaptized 
person,  at  a  time  when  it  is  acknowledged  that  none  but  false  profes- 
sors could  remain  in  that  state,  it  is  our  duty  to  refuse  it  to  some  of  the 
most  excellent  of  the  earth,  merely  on  account  of  the  absence  of  that 
ceremony  ?  As  it  is  admitted,  on  all  hands,  that  baptism  was  then  so 
circumstanced  that  the  omission  of  it  was  inconsistent  with  a  credible 
profession  of  piety,  nothing  more  is  necessary  to  account  for  the  prece- 
dent which  includes  it ;  it  was  the  necessary  result  of  the  then  state  of 
things,  and  the  apostles,  it  is  acknowledged,  could  not  have  extended 
their  communion  beyond  the  limits  of  that  rite,  without  incorporating 
insincere  professors.  But  if  this  reason  is  sufficient  to  account  for  it, 
it  is  unphilosophical  and  unreasonable  to  seek  for  another.  The  sup- 
posed inherent  and  inseparable  connexion  between  the  two  positive  insti- 
tutes is  another  and  a  totally  different  one,  which  is  sufficiently  ex- 
cluded by  the  preceding  reasoning. 

We  presume  it  will  not  be  doubted  that  Scripture  precedent  is  founded 
on  wisdom,  that  it  is  not  arbitrary  and  capricious.  It  would  betray 
great  irreverence  to  suppose  tliat  men  acting  under  divine  inspiration 
were  not,  in  every  branch  of  their  official  conduct,  especially  in  what- 
ever related  to  the  regulation  and  government  of  the  church,  moved  by 
the  strongest  reasons.  Hence  the  inquiry  why  they  acted  as  they  did 
is  essential  to  a  rational  investigation  into  the  force  and  authority  of 
Scripture  precedent.  Their  proceedings  were  regulated  by  their  judg- 
ment, or  rather,  by  the  wisdom  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  enlightened 
their  minds  and  directed  their  movements.  If  the  reason  for  rejecting 
unbaptized  persons  in  the  primitive  age  applies  to  the  case  of  Pedo- 
baptists, the  argument  for  strict  communion,  derived  from  the  practice  of 
the  apostles,  is  unanswerable.  But  if  the  cases  are  totally  dissimilar — 
if  our  opponents  can  assign  no  such  reason  for  excluding  their  Christian 
brethren,  as  might  justly  have  been  urged  against  the  admission  of  the 
unbaptized  in  the  times  of  the  apostles,  the  argument  is  totally  incon- 
clusive. 

It  is  decided,  by  the  express  declaration  of  our  Lord,  that  he  who 
refuses  obedience  to  any  part  of  his  will  is  not  a  Christian.  "  Then," 
saith  he,  "  are  ye  my  disciples  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
vou."  But  while  there  was  no  diversity  of  opinion  on  the  subject, 
lie  voluntary  omission  of  the  baptismal  ceremony  could  arise  from 
nothing  but  a  contumacious  contempt  of  a  divine  precept,  of  which  no 
sincere  Christian  could  be  guilty.  Here,  then,  we  discover  a  sufficient 
reason  for  the  matter  of  fact  urged  by  our  oi)ponents,  without  supposing 


410  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORM. 

an  intrinsic  or  invariable  connexion  between  the  two  ordinances.  The 
principle  of  open  communion  would  have  compelled  us  to  act  precisely 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  apostles  did,  had  we  been  placed  in  their 
circumstances.  How  vain,  then,  the  attempt  to  overthrow  that  prin- 
ciple by  appealing  to  a  precedent  which  is  its  legitimate  and  necessary 
consequence ;  and  how  unreasonable  the  demand  which  urges  us  to 
treat  two  cases  as  exactly  similar  of  which  our  opponents  equally 
with  ourselves  are  compelled  to  form  the  most  opposite  judgment.  liCt 
the  advocates  of  restricted  communion  express  the  same  opinion  o 
the  state  and  character  of  those  whom  they  now  regard  as  unbaptized, 
which  we  are  certain  they  Avould  feel  no  scruple  in  avowing  with  re- 
spect to  such  as  had  refused  submission  to  that  ordinance  in  primitive 
times,  and  we  shall  deplore  their  blindness  and  bigotry,  but  shall  ac- 
knowledge they  reason  consistently  from  their  own  premises.  But  we 
',\dll  never  submit  to  identify  two  cases  which  agree  in  nothing  but  the 
omission  of  an  external  rite,  while  that  omission  arises  from  causes  the 
most  dissimilar,  and  is  combined  with  characters  the  most  contrary. 
We  will  not  conclude,  that  because  the  apostles  could  not  bear  with 
those  that  were  evil,  they  would  have  refused  to  tolerate  the  good ;  or 
that  they  would  have  comprehended  under  the  same  censure  the  con- 
tumacious opposer  of  their  doctrines,  and  the  myriads  of  holy  men 
whose  only  crime  consists  in  mistaking  their  meaning  in  one  par 
ticular. 

The  remarks  we  have  already  made  will  be  deemed,  we  trust,  f 
sufficient  answer  to  the  triumphant  question  of  Mr.  Kinghorn.  "  Hom 
is  it,"  he  asks,  "  that  with  the  same  rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  church 
the  ancient  Christians  could  not  receive  a  person  to  communion  without 
baptism,  if  the  modern  both  can  and  ought  to  receive  him?"*  The 
answer  is  obvious.  If  the  ancient  Christians  had  received  a  person 
without  baptism,  they  would  have  received  a  false  professor  ;  but  when 
we  at  present  receive  one  v/hom  we  judge  to  be  in  a  similar  predica- 
ment, we  receive  a  sincere  though  mistaken  brother  ;  we  receive  him 
wlio  is  of  that  description  of  Christians  whom  we  are  commanded  to 
receive. 

If  it  still  be  contended  that  the  two  cases  are  so  parallel  that  the 
proceeding  of  the  apostles,  in  this  particular,  is  binding  as  a  law,  we 
would  once  more  ask  such  as  adopt  this  plea,  whether  they  themselves 
form  the  same  judgment  of  the  present  Pedobaptists  as  the  apostles 
would  have  entertained  of  such  as  continued  unbaptized  in  their  day. 
If  they  reply  in  the  affirmative,  they  must  consider  them  as  insincere, 
hypocritical  professors.  If  they  answer  in  the  negative,  since,  by  their 
own  confession,  they  look  upon  the  persons  whom  they  exclude  in  a 
different  light  from  that  in  which  the  party  excluded  by  the  apostles 
was  considered,  what  becomes  of  the  identity  of  the  two  cases  ?  and 
what  greater  right  have  they  to  thvik  differently  of  the  state  of  the  un- 
baptized from  what  the  apostles  thought,  than  we  have  for  treating  them 
differently  1  They  are  clamorous  in  their  charge  against  us  of  wilful 
deviation  from  apostolic  precedents.     But  there    are   precedents   of 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communiom.p.  29. 


KEPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  411 

thinking  as  well  as  of  acting,  and  it  is  as  much  our  du/y  to  conform  to 
the  xcntiinents  of  inspired  men  as  to  their  actions.  The  chief  use, 
indeed,  which  inspired  precedents  are  of  is  to  assist  us  to  ascertain  the 
dictates  of  inspiration.  The  conduct  of  enlightened,  much  more  of 
inspired,  men  is  founded  on  sound  speculative  principles.  If  the  ad- 
vocates of  strict  communion  urge  us  with  the  inquiry.  By  what  au- 
thority do  you  presume  to  receive  a  class  of  persons  whom  you  ac- 
knowledge the  apostles  would  not  have  received  ?  we  reply,  By  what 
authority  do  you  presume  to  deviate  from  the  opinion  of  the  apostles 
respecting  that  same  class  ?  Many  whom  you  exclude  from  your  com- 
munion as  unbaptized  you  acknowledge  as  Christians,  and  without 
hesitation  express  your  confidence  of  meeting  them  in  glory.  Did  the 
apostles  entertain  the  same  judgment  respecting  such  in  their  day  ? 
Were  they  prepared  to  recognise  them  as  brethren,  and  to  congratulate 
them  on  their  eternal  prospects,  while  they  repelled  them  from  com- 
munion? Would  they  not,  whhout  hesitation,  have  applied  to  them  the 
language  which  our  Saviour  uses,  respecting  such  as  refused  to  be  bap- 
tized by  John,  whom  he  affirms  to  have  "rejected  the  counsel  of  God 
against  themselves  ?" 

These  questions  admit  but  of  one  answer.  Here  then  is  a  palpable 
disagreement  between  the  sentiments  of  our  opponents  and  those  of  the 
apostles,  on  the  subject  of  the  unbaptized ;  the  apostles  would  have 
both  rejected  and  condemned  them:  they  reject  them  as  members,  and 
embrace  them  as  brethren.  Were  they  called  upon  to  defend  them- 
selves from  the  charge  of  contradicting  the  apostles,  they  would  begin 
to  distinguish  between  the  two  cases,  and  urge  the  different  circuni 
stances  which  accompany  tlie  omission  of  the  same  ceremony  now,  from 
what  must  be  supposed  to  have  accompanied  it  in  the  times  of  the 
apostles  ;  in  other  words,  they  would  attempt  to  show  that  a  new  case 
has  arisen,  which  necessitates  them  to  form  a  correspondent  judgment. 
They  assume  the  same  liberty  with  ourselves  of  thinking  dijferently  of 
the  state  of  the  many  who  continue  unbaptized  in  the  present  day,  from 
what  they  are  persuaded  the  apostles  would  have  thought  of  such  as 
had  remained  in  that  situation  in  theirs  ;  and  yet,  with  strange  incon- 
sistency, accuse  us  of  a  deviation  from  a  divine  precedent  in  not 
treating  them  both  in  the  same  manner ;  forgetting  that  if  the  cases 
are  parallel,  they  themselves  are  guilty  of  an  avowed  and  palpable  con- 
tradiction to  the  sentiments  of  the  apostles. 

When  men  differ  in  their  vicAvs  of  one  and  the  same  object,  it  will  not 
be  denied  that  they  contradict  each  other.  We  cffer  them  the  alterna- 
tive, either  to  deny  or  to  affirm  that  to  be  unbaptized  at  present  is  in  a 
moral  view  a  very  distinct  thing,  and  involves  very  different  conse- 
quences from  being  in  that  predicament  in  the  times  of  the  apostles. 
If  they  deny  it,  they  stand  self-convicted  of  contradicting  the  sentiments 
of  inspiration,  by  speaking  of  that  class  of  persons  as  genuine  Chris- 
tians whom  they  cannot  but  acknowledge  the  apostles  would  have 
condemned.  If  they  adopt  the  affirmative,  our  practice  by  their  own 
confession  is  not  opposed  to  apostolic  precedent,  because  that  prece- 
dent respects  a  different  thing. 


412  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Thev  not  onlv  depart  from  the  precedent  of  the  apostles  m  tne 
judgineiit  thfv  form  of  tlie  unbaptized,  but  in  every  other  branch  of 
their  conduct,  with  the  exception  of  the  act  of  communion.  On  all 
other  occasions  they  treat  as  brethren,  and  frequently,  and  that  much 
to  their  honour,  cultivate  an  intimate  friendship  with  persons  whom 
thev  deem  to  be  destitute  of  that  rite,  the  omission  of  which,  in  the 
apostolic  age,  would  have  incurred  the  sentence  of  wilful  impiety  and 
disobedience.  What,  we  ask,  is  more  opposite  to  primitive  precedent 
than  the  practice  of  including  the  same  persons  within  the  obligations 
of  Cliristian  love  and  friendship  whom  they  prohibit  from  communion  ? 
of  inviting  them  into  the  pulpit,  and  repelling  them  from  the  table ;  uniting 
with  them  in  the  most  retired  and  elevated  exercises  of  devotion,  and 
excluding  them  from  the  church  ?  It  is  scarcely  in  the  power  of  ima- 
gination to  feign  a  species  of  conduct  more  diametrically  opposite  to  all 
the  examples  of  Scripture  ;  and  when  they  have  reconciled  these  and 
many  similar  usages  with  the  practice  of  the  primitive  age,  they  will 
have  supplied  us  with  a  sufficient  apology  for  our  pretended  deviation 
from  the  same  standard. 

It  will  probably  be  thought  enough  has  been  already  said  to  demon- 
strate the  futility  of  tlie  argument  founded  on  original  precedent :  but  as 
this  is  considered  by  our  opponents  in  general,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  King- 
horn  in  particular,  as  the  main  prop  of  their  cause,  we  must  be  permitted 
to  detain  the  reader  a  little  longer,  while  we  enter  on  a  closer  examina 
tion  of  his  reasoning. 

In  order  to  show  that  baptism  is  a  necessary  term  of  communion,  he 
labours  hard  to  prove  that  it  is  a  term  of  profession.  "  It  is  obvious," 
he  says,  "  that  their  baptism  (that  of  believers)  was  the  term  of  pro- 
fessing their  faith  by  the  special  appointment  of  the  Lord  himself."  To 
the  same  purpose  he  afterward  adds,  "the  fact  still  exists  that  it 
pleased  the  Lord  to  make  a  visible  and  ritual  observance  the  appointed 
evidence  of  our  believing  on  him.  If  obedience  to  a  rite  be  not  a  term 
of  salvation  (which  no  one  supposes),  yet  it  was  ordered  by  the  highest 
authority,  as  an  evidence  of  our  subjection  to  the  Author  of  salvation : 
and  a  Christian  profession  is  not  made  in  Christ'' s  oion  way  without  it.''"' 
Recurring  to  the  same  topic,*  he  observes,  "  Whatever  may  be  the  con- 
ditions of  salvation,  a  plain  question  here  occurs,  which  is.  Ought  the 
terms  of  Christian  communion  to  he  different  from  those  of  Christian 
profession  ?  The  only  answer  which  one  would  think  could  be  given 
to  this  question  Avould  be.  No  :  Christian  communion  must  require  what- 
ever the  Lord  required  as  a  mark  of  Christian  profession^ 

It  is  hoped  the  reader  w^ill  excuse  my  accumulating  quotations  to  the 
same  purport,  which  would  have  been  avoided  were  it  not  evident  that 
the  writer  considered  this  as  his  stronghold,  to  which  he  repairs  with 
a  confidence  which  bespeaks  his  conviction  of  its  being  impregnable.  We 
will  venture,  however,  to  come  close  to  these  frowning  battlements  :  we 
will  make  trial  of  theh-  strength,  that  it  may  be  seen  Avhether  their  power 
of  resistance  is  equal  to  their  formidable  aspect.  We  freely  acknowledge 
that  \i ike  principle  can  be  established  that  baptism  is  invariably  essea 

*  Page  20. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  413 

tial  to  a  Chiislian  profession,  the  cause  we  are  pleading  must  oe  aban- 
doned, being  confident  that  a  true  profess'on  of  the  Christian  religion  is 
inseparable  from  churcli  communion.  ,1 

Previous  to  entering  on  this  discussion,  it  will  be  necessary  to  premise, 
that  the  words  profession  and  confession,  together  with  their  correlates, 
are  usually  denoted  by  one  and  the  same  word  in  the  original,  and  that 
they  are  evidently  used  by  the  authors  of  the  received  translation  as 
sj'nonymous.*  Hence,  whatever  is  affirmed  in  the  New  Testament 
respecting  the  confession  of  Christ,  or  of  his  sayings,  may  without 
hesitation  be  considered  as  predicated  of  a  profession ;  since  whatever 
difference  may  subsist  in  the  popular  meaning  of  the  words,  whenever 
they  occur  in  Scripture,  they  are  merely  different  renderings  of  the 
same  term.f 

Now,  that  the  profession  of  Christ  is  an  indispensable  term  of  salva- 
tion is  so  undeniably  evident  from  the  New  Testament,  that  to  attempt 
to  prove  it  seems  like  an  insult  on  the  understanding  of  the  reader.  I 
must  crave  his  indulgence,  however,  for  recalling  to  his  recollection  a 
veryfewpassages,  which  will  set  the  matter  beyond  dispute.  "Whoever," 
said  our  Lord,  "  shall  confess  (or  profess)  my  name  before  men,  him  will 
I  confess  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven  :  and  whoever  shall  deny 
me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven," 
Matt.  X.  32.  The  same  language  occurs,  with  little  variation,  in  the  gospel 
of  St.  Luke,  xii.  8.  In  these  words  we  find  an  awful  denunciation  of  the 
rejection  of  every  one,  without  exception,  who  shall  be  found  to  have 
denied  Christ ;  and  as  this  denial  is  immediately  opposed  to  confessing 
him,  it  must  necessarily  attach  to  all  such  as  have  not  made  a  confession. 
If  a  medium  could  be  supposed  between  the  denial  and  the  open  asser- 
tion of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  it  is  precluded  by  the  following  sentence  : 
"  Whoever  shall  be  ashamed  of  me,  and  of  my  words,  of  him  shall  the 
Son  of  man  be  ashamed,  when  he  shall  come  in  his  own  glory,  and  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  holy  angels." — Luke  ix.  26.  Thence  we  may 
with  "certainty  conclude,  tliat  from  whatever  motives  a  profession  of 
Christianity  is  omitted  or  declined,  eternal  perdition  is  the  consequence. 
Nor  is  this  the  doctrine  of  the  evangelists  only  :  it  is  repeatedly  asserted, 
and  uniformly  implied,  in  the  writings  of  the  apostles.  "  If  thou  shalt 
confess  {ov profess)  with  thy  mouth,"  saith  St.  Paul,  "the  Lord  Jesus, 
Hud  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved :  for  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  righteous- 
ness, and  with  the  mouth  cowiesuxow  (or  profession)  is  made  unto  salva- 
tion."— Rom.  X.  9.  •  We  find  the  same  writer  on  another  occasion 
exhorting  Christians  to  hold  fast  the  profession  of  their  faith  without 
wavering,  when  the  previous  possession  of  that  is  necessarily  supposed, 
a  firm  adherence  to  which  is  inculcated  as  essential  to  salvation.    "  Let 

*  The  word  in  the  original  is  S^oXoyia,  derived  from  S^ioXoytw,  a  verb  of  the  same  import. 

t  See  Matt.  X.  32.  Luke  xii.  8.  Matt,  vii.23.  John  ix.  22.  John  xii.  42.  Acts  xxiii.  8 ;  xxiv.  14. 
Rom.  X.  9,  10.  1  John  iv.  15.  2  John  vii.  Rev.  iii.  5.  1  Tim.  vi.  13.  rfiv  KnXfiv  bituXoylui,  a  good 
profession,  English  Translation. — Heb.  iii.  1.  rij;  bjioXoylai;  rifiiav,  of  our  profession,  E.  T. — Ilcb.  iv 
14.  rTig  biJo\oyiag  ^;j<3i',  our  profession,  E.  T. — Ileb.  x.23.  rfiv  huoXoyiav  Trji  iXviSui  aK\ivtj,  the 
profession  of  our  f;uth  without  wavering. — Matt.  vii.  23.  totc  huoAoy/jao)  ui'-oif,  then  will  I  profess 
unto  them.  In  each  of  the  preceding  passnges  tic  same  word,  under  different  inIlection.s,  is 
employed,  and  they  contain  all  the  passages  which  relate  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  religious 
profession. 


414  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

us  hold  fast  the  profession  of  our  faith  without  wavering." — Heb.  x.  23. 
It  is  to  the  faithful,  considered  as  such,  without  distinction  of  sects  and 
parties,  that  St.  Paul  addresses  the  following  exhortation  :  "  Wherefore, 
iiolv  hretiiren,  partakers  of  the  heavenly  calling,  consider  the  Apostle 
and'  High-priest  of  our  profession,  Christ  Jesus." — Heb.  iii.  1.  In  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  alone,  the  phrase  our  profession  occurs  three 
times,  and  in  each  instance  in  such  a  connexion  as  demonstrates  it  to  be 
an  attribute  common  to  all  Christians.* 

It  would  be  trifling  with  the  reader's  patience  to  multiply  proofs  of  a 
position  so  evident  from  Scripture  as  the  inseparable  connexion  between 
a  genuine  profession  of  Christ  and  future  salvation.     But  if  this  be  ad- 
mhted,  what  becomes  of  the  principal  argument  urged  by  Mr.  Kinghorn 
for  strict  communion,  which  turns  on  the  principle  that  "  baptism  is  the 
term  of  Christian  profession?"     Who  can  fail  to  perceive  that  if  this 
proposition  is  true,  the  Pedobaptists  are,  on  our  principles,  cut  off  from 
the  hope  of  eternal  life,  and  salvation  is  confined  to  ourselves  ?     The 
language  of  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles  is  decisive  respecting  the 
necessity  of  a  profession  in  order  to  eternal  life :  this  writer  affirms 
that  baptism,  as  we  practise  it,  is  an  essential  term  of  profession.     By 
comparing  these  propositions  together,  a  child  will  perceive  that  the 
necessary  inference  is  the  restriction  of  the  hope  of  future  happiness  to 
members  of  our  ov>'n  denomination.     This  in  truth  is  the  conclusion  to 
which  all  his  reasoning  tends ;  it  meets  the  intelligent  reader  at  every 
turn  ;  but  when  he  expects  the  writer  to  advance  forward  and  press  the 
fearful  consequence,  he  turns  aside,  and  is  afraid  to  push  his  argument 
to  its  proper  issue.     He  travails  in  birth,  but  dares  not  bring  forth ;  he 
shrinks  from  the  sight  of  his  own  progeny.     Sometimes  he  seems  at  the 
very  point  of  disclosing  the  full  tendency  of  his  speculations,  and  more 
than  once  suggests  hints  in  the  form  of  questions  which  possess  no 
meaning,  but  on  the  supposition  of  that  dismal  conclusion  to  which  his 
hypothesis  conducts  him.     Let  the  reader  pause,  and  medhate  on  the 
following  extraordinary  passage  : — "  If  baptism,"  he  says,  "  was  once 
necessary  to  communion,  either  it  was  then  essential  to  salvation,  or 
that  which  was  not  essential  to  salvation  toas  necessary  to  communion. 
If  it  was  the7i  essential  to  salvation,  how  can  it  be  proved  not  to  be 
essential  now  f'f     Again  he  asks,  "  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  term 
condition  ?     In  whatever  sense  the  term  can  apply  to  the  commission 
of  our  Lord,  or  to  the  declarations  of  the  apostles  respecting  repentance, 
faith,  and  baptism, — is  not  baptism  a  condition  either  of  communion 
or  of  salvation,  or  of  both  ?     Do  the  conditions  either  of  salvation  oi 
of  communion  change  by  time  ?     Are  they  annulled  by  being  misun- 
derstood ?"+ 

Whatever  of  argument  these  passages  may  be  supposed  to  contain, 
will  be  exammed  hereafter ;  the  design  of  producing  them  at  present  is 
to  show  the  tendency  of  the  principle ;  and  the  reader  is  requested  to 
consider  whether  they  are  susceptible  of  any  other  sense  than  that  the 
terms  of  salvation  and  of  communion  are  commensurate  with  each  other ; 
that  whatever  was  once  essential  to  salvation  is  so  still ;  and  that  bap- 

*  Heb.  iii.  1;  iv.  14;  x.  13.  j  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  19.  {  Ibid.  p.  20. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORJN  415 

tism  is  as  much  a  condition  of  salvation  as  faith  and  repentance.  But 
if  these  are  his  real  sentiments,  why  not  speak  plainly,  instead  of  "  ut 
taring  parables  ?"  and  why  mingle  in  the  same  publication  representa 
tions  totally  repugnant,  in  which  he  speaks  of  such  as  dissent  from  hira 
on  the  subject  of  baptism  as  persons  of  the  most  distinguished  character 
— persons  whom  God  will  undoubtedly  bring  to  his  kingdom  and  glory?* 
The  only  solution  this  problem  admits  is  to  suppose  (what  my  know- 
ledge of  his  character  confirms)  that  to  the  first  part  of  these  statements 
he  was  impelled  by  the  current  of  his  arguments,  to  the  latter  by  the 
dictates  of  his  heart.  But  however  that  heart  may  rebel,  he  must  learn 
either  to  subdue  its  contumacy,  or  consent  to  relinquish  the  principal 
points  of  his  defence.  He  has  stated  that  the  limits  of  communion  must 
be  the  same  with  those  of  profession  ;  that  the  Pedobaptists  have  none, 
or,  at  least,  none  that  is  valid ;  and  that,  on  this  account  and  for  this 
reason,  they  are  precluded  from  a  title  to  Christian  fellowship.  But 
the  word  of  God,  as  we  have  seen,  repeatedly  insists  on  men's  profess- 
ing Christ  as  an  indispensable  requisite  to  salvation.  How  is  it  possible, 
then,  if  Mr.  Kinghorn's  position  is  just,  to  evade  the  consequence,  that 
those  whom  he  would  exclude  from  communion  are  excluded  from 
salvation  ? 

"  If  obedience  to  a  W^c,"  he  observes,  "  be  not  a  term  of  salvation 
(which  no  one  supposes),  yet  it  was  ordered  by  the  highest  authority, 
as  an  evidence  of  our  subjection  to  the  Author  of  salvation  ;  and  a 
Christian  profession  is  not  made  in  Christ's  oum  loay  ivithout  it."]  If 
the  open  acknowledgment  of  Christ  by  the  Pedobaptists  is  not  to  be 
esteemed  a  real  and  valid  profession,  the  inevitable  consequence  is,  for 
reasons  sufficiently  explained,  that  they  cannot  be  saved ;  but  if  it  is 
valid  (however  imperfect  in  one  particular),  it  is  so  far  made  in  Christ's 
own  way.  The  expression  which  he  employs  to  depreciate  it  has  either 
no  meaning  or  none  that  is  relative  to  the  object  of  the  writer.  The 
scope  of  his  argument  obliged  him  to  prove  that  adult  baptism  is  essen- 
tial to  a  Christian  profession ;  he  now  contents  himself  with  saying,  that 
without  tliat  ordinance  it  is  not  made  in  the  right  way,  which  may, 
with  equal  propriety,  be  affirmed  of  every  deviation  from  the  doctrine 
and  precepts  of  the  gospel.  Just  as  far  as  we  suppose  a  person  to 
depart  from  these,  we  must  judge  his  profession  not  to  be  made  in 
Chrisfs  own  way  ;  nor  will  any  thing  short  of  a  perfect  profession,  or, 
in  other  words,  a  perfect  comprehension  and  exhibition  of  the  will  of 
Christ,  exempt  him  from  such  an  imputation ;  so  that  in  this  sense, 
which  is  the  only  one  applicable  to  the  case  before  us,  to  make  a  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  religion  in  Christ's  own  way  is  not  the  lot  of  a 
mortal.  But  though  this  is  the  only  interpretation  consistent  with 
truth,  we  cannot  for  a  moment  suppose  that  such  was  the  meaning  of 
the  writer.  He  must  have  intended  to  assert  that  the  parties  to  whom 
they  are  applied  fail  to  make  what  Christ  hi?nself  \voa\d  deem  a  pro- 
fession. This  supposition  is  forced  upon  us  by  the  scope  of  his  rea 
soning,  which  went  to  prove  that  baptism  is  necessary  to  communion, 
because  it  is  necessary  to  a  profession.     This  supposed  necessity  must 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  21,  Sfl  '  Jliid.  p.  18. 


416  KEPLY  TO  REV    JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

sonsequently  relate,  not  to  its  completeness,  or  perfection,  but  to  ita 
essence :  he  must  be  understood  to  affirm,  tliat  they  have  not  exhibited 
what  Clirisi  will  consider  as  a  profession.  But  as  he  has  solemnly 
allirmod  his  determination  to  reject  such  as  are  destitute  of  it,  we  aslc 
aijaiu,  liow,  Mr.  Kingliorn  will  reconcile  this  with  the  salvability  of 
Podobaptists  ? 

AVhatever  it  seems  good  to  infinite  wisdom  to  prescribe  as  an  indis- 
pensable condition  of  future  happiness,  we  must  suppose  that  it  exactly 
corresponds  to  its  name :  it  is  true  and  genuine  in  its  kind,  and  wants 
nothing  which  constitutes  the  essence.  If  an  open  acknowledgment  of 
Christ  is  the  prerequisite  demanded  under  the  title  of  a  profession,  it 
would  seem  strange  to  assert  that  something  less  than  w'hat  is  cor- 
rectly denoted  by  that  expression  is,  after  all,  sufficient  to  satisfy  the 
condition.  This,  however,  is  what  Mr.  Kinghorn  must  assert,  to  be 
consistent  with  himself;  for  he  will  not  deny  that  the  advocates  of 
infant-sprinkling  have  exhibited  something  like  a  profession ;  but  as 
they  have  not  made  it  in  Christ''s  own  ivay,  it  is  not,  strictly  speaking, 
entitled  to  that  appellation,  and,  consequently,  cannot  claim  the  privi- 
leges it  secures.  But  if  the  case  is  as  he  states  it,  he  must  either  con- 
fine the  hope  of  salvation  to  his  own  party,  or  admit  that,  in  the  solemn 
denmiciations  before  recited,  it  is  not  really  a  profession  of  Christ 
which  is  required,  but  merely  something  which  resembles  it.  Whether 
the  use  of  language  so  replete  with  ambiguity,  or  collusion,  is  con- 
sistent witli  tha  character  of  the  "true  and  faithful  witness,"  we  leave 
to  the  decision  of  the  reader.  According  to  Mr.  Kinghorn,  while  there 
are  tAvo  modes  of  avowing  our  Christianity,  one  so  essentially  defective 
as  not  to  deserve  the  name  of  a  p)rofession,  the  other  sound  and  valid ; 
when  the  Supreme  Legislator  thought  fit  to  enjoin  the  profession  of  his 
name,  under  the  sanction  of  eternal  death,  he  intended  to  insist  on  the  first, 
in  distinction  from  the  last  of  these  methods.  Let  him.  who  is  able 
digest  these  absurdities  ;  from  which  whoever  would  escape  must 
either  abandon  the  ground  Avhich  Mf.  Ivinghorn  has  taken,  or  consign 
the  Pedobaptists  to  destruction. 

It  is  time,  however,  to  recur  to  the  questions  with  which  he  has 
urged  his  opponents,  and  which  he  supposes  it  impossible  to  solve  on 
my  principles.  "  If  baptism,"  he  observes,  "  was  once  necessary  to 
communion,  either  it  was  then  essential  to  salvation,  or  that  which  was 
not  essential  to  salvation  was  necessary  to  communion.  If  it  was  then 
essential  to  salvation,  how  can  it  be  proved  not  to  be  essential  nowl  If 
It  be  argued  that  it  was  not  essential  to  salvation  then,  it  must  eithei 
be  proved  that  communion  was  held  without  it,  or  Mr.  Hall's  position 
must  fall."* 

Of  the  preceding  dilemma  I  embrace  without  hesitation  the  affirma- 
tive side,  and  assert  that  in  the  apostolic  age  baptism  v^as  necessary 
to  salvation.  To  the  query  which  follows,  "how  then  can  it  be  proved 
that  it  is  not  essential  now,"  I  reply  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  attempt 
it,  because  it  is  admitted  by  Mr.  Kinghorn  himself;  and  it  is  prepos- 
terous to  attempt  the  proof  of  what  is  acknowledged  by  both  parUQ* 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  19. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  417 

It  is  \eiy  astonishing, ^after  he  luui  so  clearly  avowed  his  conviction  of 
the  exalted  character  and  unquestionable  piety  of  many  Pedobapiists, 
he  should  ask  the  question :  but  he  was  probably  so  dazzled  with  the 
seeming  subtlety  and  acumen  of  these  pointed  interrogatories,  as  not  to 
perceive  their  total  irrelevance.  If  he  feels  any  hesitation  in  affirmmg 
that  baptism  was  essential  to  salvation  in  primitive  times,  he  entertains 
a  lower  idea  of  its  importance  than  his  opponents  ;  but  on  the  contrary 
supposition,  unless  he  totally  retracts  his  liberal  concessions,  he  must 
acknowledge  that  which  was  once  necessary  to  salvation  is  not  so  now. 
The  difficulty  attending  the  supposition  of  a  change  in  the  ifrms  of 
salvation  is  urged  with  little  propriety  by  one  to  whose  hypothesis 
they  apply  in  their  full  force ;  nor  are  they,  when  fairly  examined,  at 
all  formidable.  Owing  to  the  incurable  ambiguity  of  language,  many 
truths  founded  on  the  clearest  evidence  assume  an  appearance  of  para- 
dox.; and  of  this  nature  is  the  proposition  which  affirms  that  the  terms 
of  salvation  are  not  unalterable;  which  may,  with  equal  propriety,  be 
affirmed  or  denied,  in  different  senses.  Since  \\\e  fundamental  laws  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  are  of  equal  and  invariable  obligation,  a  cordial 
compliance  with  which  is  essential  to  eternal  felicity, — -since  faith 
and  repentance  are  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  indispensable 
prerequisites  to  a  justified  state,  in  popular  language,  there  would  be 
no  impropriety  in  asserting  that  the  conditions  of  salvation,  under  the 
gospel,  remain  the  same  from  age  to  age. 

But  if  this  proposition  is  taken  in  its  utmost  rigour,  and  applied  to 
every  particular  connected  with  the  faith  and  practice  of  Christians,  it 
is  manifestly  false.  There  are  certain  parts  of  Christianity  which,  as 
they  exhibit  the  basis,  and  propound  the  conditions  of  the  new  covenant, 
belong  to  its  essence ;  certain  doctriiVes  which  are  revealed  because 
they  are  necessary  ;  and  others,  which  are  necessary  only  because 
they  are  revealed :  the  absence  of  which  impairs  its  beauty,  without 
destroying  its  being.  Of  this  nature  are  its  few  and  simple  ceremonies. 
But  while  this  distinction  is  admitted,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  the 
wilful' perversion  of  the  least  of  Christ's'  precepts,  or  the  deliberate  and 
voluntary  rejection  of  his  instructions  in  the  smallest  instance,  would 
belray  an  insincerity  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  Christian  character. 
"He  who  shall  break  the  least  of  these  my  commandments,  and  teach 
men  so,  he  shall  be  of  no  esteem  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven."*  The 
truth  or  precept  in  quest-on  may  be  of  such  an  order,  that  a  simple 
ignorance  of  it  may  not  be  fatal ;  yet  to  resist  it,  knowing  it  to  be  of 
divine  authority,  would  be  pregnant  with, the  highest  danger.  The 
great  Head  of  the  church  will  not  permit  us  to  set  voluntary  limits  to 
our  obedience :  we  must  consent  to  receive  all  his  sayings  or  none. 
But  it  must  be  manifest,  on  reflection,  that  on  its  first  publication  the 
visible  appendages  of  Christianity  were  exhibited  with  a  lustre  of  evi- 
dence which  no  honest  mhid  could  withstand ;  and  that  no  pretence  for 
their  neglect  could  subsist  among  such  as  professed  religious  integrity. 
Such  was  eminently  the  case  witlithetwo  institutions  which  have  occa- 
iioned  the  present  controversy.     The  constant  practice  of  the  apostles 

♦  See  Cam|il)cir.s  '['rsiisialioii,  Matt  v.  19 

Vol.  I.— D  d 


418  REPLY  TO  KEY.  JOSKPII  KINGHORN. 

appealiii>>-  to  the  senses  of  men,  and  illustrating  the  import  of  their  oral 
insiriietion,  made  tiie  point  of  duty  so  plain,  that  its  omission,  in  oueh 
cireumstanees  could  be  ascribed  only  to  voluntary  corruption. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  example  wliich  might  be  adduced.  By  orthodox 
Christians  the  explicit  belief  of  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  is  now 
considered  as  indispensably  necessary  to  salvation  ;  but  that  the  imme- 
diate followers  of  Christ  were,  during  his  personal  ministry,  so  far  from 
embracing  this  truth  that  they  couUl  iiot  endure  the  mention  of  his 
death  without  expressing  tlie  utmost  impatience,  and  that  they  knew 
not  what  was  intended  by  his  resurrection,  are  undeniable  facts.  The 
full  development  of  the  gospel  scheme,  made  at  a  subsequent  period, 
has  in  this  instance  rendered  that  essential  to  salvation  which  could 
previously  subsist  without  it. 

It  may  also  be  observed,  that  a  diversity  of  sentiment  has  arisen 
among  Christians  from  different  modes  of  interpreting  the  word  of 
God,  which  has  given  birtrii  to  various  sects  and  parties,  unknown  in 
primitive  times.  On  many  of  these  points,  it  is  impossible  to  suppose 
but  that  the  sentiments  of  the  inspired  writers  were  expressed  with 
sufBcient  perspicuity  to  be  perfectly  understood  by  the  parties  to  whom 
they  were  originally  communicated ;  and  who,  having  repeatedly 
attended  their  ministry,  had  heard  those  particulars  more  fully  illus- 
trated and  confirmed  which  are  briefly  touched  upon  in  their  writings. 
Who  can  doubt  that  the  true  idea  of  election,  whether  it  intends,  as  the 
Arminians  assert,  the  distinction  conferred  on  some,  above  others,  in  the 
collation  of  external  benefits,  or  the  preordination  of  individuals  to 
eternal  life,  was  clearly  ascertained  by  the  primitive  Christians,  so  as 
to  exclude  the  possibility  of  controversy  and  debate  1  The  Arminian 
will  contend  that  the  first  Christians  entertained  his  notion  of  election 
and  grace  ;  the  Calvinist,  with  equal  confidence,  will  maintain  that  the 
true  and  primitive  interpretation  of  Scripture  is  in  favour  of  his  hy- 
pothesis ;  and  neither  of  them  can  consistently  admit  that  the  members 
of  the  primitive  church  adopted  a  different  system  from  that  which  they 
respectively  embrace.  One  of  the  parties  will  contend  that  the  apos- 
tolic church  consisted  entirely  of  Arminians  ;  the  other  that  it  included 
none  but  Calvinists. 

AVere  it  allowed  that  so?ne  variety  of  opinion  on  this  mysterious  topic 
might  subsist  even  among  the  earliest  converts,  it  is  impossible  to  sup- 
pose there  were  none  al  that  period  who  understood  the  doctrine  of  St. 
Paul :  it  would  be  most  injurious  to  the  reputation  of  that  great  writer 
to  suppose  he  expressed  himself  with  an  obscurity  which  uniformly 
baffled  the  power  of  comprehension.  Let  his  meaning,  for  argument's 
sake,  be  supposed  to  agree  with  the  Arminian  system  ;  the  adoption  of 
that  hypothesis  was,  on  this  supposition,  essential  to  the  salvation  of 
him  who  was  acquainted  with  that  circumstance.  For  such  a  person  to 
have  embraced  the  Calvinistic  sentiments  would  have  been  to  pour  con- 
tempt on  the  apostolic  doctrine,  and  to  oppose  his  private  judgment  to 
the  dictates  of  inspiration.  If  we  invert  the  supposition,  the  result  is  a 
similar  conclusion  in  favour  of  the  Calvinist.  Were  these  parties  to 
exclude  each  other  from  communion,  under  pretence  that  the  primitivp 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  419 

Christians  were  all  Calvinists,  or  all  Arminians ;  were  the  Calvinisl  to 
assert  that  he  dares  not  sanction  so  serious  a  departure  from  truth 
as  the  denial  of  election,  and  that  to  receive  such  as  were  erroneous  in 
this  point  would  be  to  admit  a  class  of  persons  who  had  no  existence 
in  the  primitive  church,  he  would  argue  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as 
Mr.  Kinghorn.  How  would  our  author  repel  this  reasoning,  or  justify 
a  more  liberal  conduct  ?  He  certainly  would  not  allege  the  original 
obscurity  of  the  apostolic  injunctions,  and  the  possibility  of  primitive 
converts  mistaking  their  meaning :  he  would  unquestionably  insist  on 
the  different  degrees  of  hnportance  attached  to  revealed  truths,  and  the 
palpable  difference  between  mistaking  the  meaning  and  avowedly  op- 
posing the  hispired  writers.  But  this  is  precisely  our  mode  of  defence. 
When  a  dispute  arose  on  the  obligation  of  extending  the  rite  of  cir- 
cumcision to  the  gentiles,  a  council,  consisting  of  the  apostles  and 
elders,  was  assembled  to  determine  the  question.  Their  decision  was, 
that  the  gentiles  should  no  longer  be  troubled  on  that  head,  but  that 
thev  should  be  strictly  enjoined,  among  other  things,  carefully  to  abstain 
from  things  strangled,  and  from  blood.  It  is  universally  acknowledged 
that  it  was  the  design  of  this  injunction  to  prohibit  the  use  of  blood  in 
food.  This  precept  was  enjoined  expressly  on  the  gentiles,  without 
the  slightest  intimation  of  its  being  of  temporary  duration ;  nor  did  it 
commence  with  the  Jewish  dispensation,  but  was  in  force  from  the 
period  of  the  deluge.  I  have  not  the  smallest  doubt  that  it  is  of  per- 
petual force,  however  little  it  may  be  regarded  in  modern  practice  ;  and 
were  the  observation  of  it  proposed  as  a  term  of  communion,  I  am  not 
aware  of  a  single  argument  adduced  by  our  opponents  for  their  narrow 
exclusive  system  which  might  not  with  superior  advantage  be  alleged 
in  favour  of  such  a  regulation.  If  it  be  urged  that  there  never  was  a 
period  when  it  was  not  the  duty  of  believers  in  Christ  to  be  baptized, 
it  may  be  asserted  with  equal  confidence  that  the  precept  of  abstaining 
from  blood  was  invariably  observed  by  the  faithful  from  the  time  of 
Noah. '  If  it  be  urged  that  the  primitive  church  consisted  exclusively  of 
such  as  were  baptized,  it  is  equally  certain  that  it  consisted  only  of  such 
as  abstained  from  blood.  That  it  was  "  once  a  term  of  communion" 
none  will  deny  :  "  how  then  comes  it  to  cease  to  be  such  V  In  this 
case  there  is  no  room  to  allege  a  misapprehension  of  the  meaning  of 
the  precept  ;"it  is  susceptible  but  of  one  interpretation  ;  and  if  the  terms 
of  communion  are  not  "  annulled  by  being  misunderstood,"*  much  less 
when  there  is  no  such  pretence.  The  only  perceptible  difference  in  the 
two  cases  is,  that  the  precept  respecting  blood  was  not  promulgated  by 
the  Saviour  himself:  but  it  resulted  from  the  solemn  and  unanimous 
decision  of  his  apostles,  and  is  of  more  ancient  origin  than  any  other 
Christian  institute.  If  our  opponents  attempt  to  depreciate  its  im 
portance  by  asserting  that  it  is  merely  rhual  and  ceremonial,  so  is 
baptism ;  and  as  they  were  both  enjoined  by  the  same  authority,  both 
universally  maintained  in  the  primitive  church,  if  the  absence  of  one  of 
these  observances  constitutes  a  church  of  different  materials,  so  must 
the  neglect  of  the  other. 

*  Kaiil'sm  aTerm  of  Cotrimnnion,p.  20 

Dd  2 


-1'20  KKPl.V  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Such  as  vitilato  the  abstinence  in  question  will  not  pretend  that  they 
observe  the  pioliibition :  they  satisfy  themselves  with  asserting  their 
conviction  (a  conviction  not  sustained  by  a  syllable  of  Scripture)  that 
it  is  onlv  of  temporary  obligation  ;  and  as  Pedobaptists  profess  their 
conscientious  adherence  to  the  baptismal  precept,  which  thfy  merely 
demand  the  right  of  interpreting  for  themselves,  upon  what  principle  is 
it  that  a  mistake  in  the  meaning  of  a  positive  injunction  is"  deemed 
more  criminal  than  its  avowed  neglect ;  or  why  should  an  error  of 
judgment,  which  equally  aflects  the  practice  in  both  cases,  be  tolerated 
in  one,  and  made  the  ground  of  exclusion  in  the  other?  This  reasoning, 
it  is  acknowledged,  bears  with  the  greatest  weight  on  such  as  conceive 
the  prohibition  of  blood  to  be  still  in  force  ;  who,  if  thev  adopt  the  prin- 
ciple of  Mr.  Kinghorn,  ought,  to  be  consistent,  immediately  to  separate 
themselves  from  such  as  are  of  a  contrary  judgment.  The  same  argu- 
ment equally  applies  to  laying  on  of  hands  after  ordination  and  baptism, 
it  is  acknowledged  that  this  rite  Avas  universally  practised  in  the  primi- 
tive times,  that  it  claims  the  sanction  of  apostolic  example,  and  it  is 
enumerated  by  St.  Paul  among  the  Jirst  principles  of  Christian  doctrine. 
Wheiever  that  practice  is  laid  aside,  it  may  with  equal  truth  be  affirmed 
that  the  church  consists  of  different  materials  from  those  admitted  by 
the  apostles  ;  and  it  may  be  asked  with  an  air  of  triumph,  in  the  words 
of  this  writer,  by  what  authority  we  presume  "  to  make  a  Scriptural 
rite  of  less  consequence  in  the  church  of  Christ  than  it  was  once?"* 

Thus  much  may  suffice  for  the  vindication  of  our  pretended  de- 
parture from  ancient  usage  and  apostolic  precedent.  But  as  this  topic 
is  supposed  to  include  the  very  pith  and  marrow  of  my  opponent's 
cause,  the  reader  must  excuse  my  replying  to  some  other  parts  of  his 
reasoning.  Confident  of  the  soundness  of  our  principles,  it  is  my 
anxious  wish  tliat  nothing  may  pass  unnoticed  that  wears  the  shadow 
of  argument ;  and  that  no  suspicion  be  afforded  of  a  desire  to  shrink 
from  any  part  of  the  contest. 

"If  an  obedience  to  a  rite,"  says  our  author,  "be  not  a  term  of  salva- 
tion (which  no  one  supposes),  yet  it  was  ordered  by  the  highest  au- 
thority, as  an  evidence  of  subjection  to  the  Author  of  salvation."!  He 
repeatedly  asserts  that  it  was  prescribed  as  an  evidence  of  faith  in  him. 
In  another  place  he  styles  it  "  the  appointed  evidence  of  our  putting  on 
Jesus  Christ,"  and  affirms  that  "  the  church  of  Christ  acting  upon  the 
rule  he  has  laid  down,  cannot  recognise  any  person  as  his  disciple  Avho 
is  not  baptized  in  his  name."| 

Let  us  first  ascertain  the  precise  meaning  of  these  remarkable  pas 
sages.  He  cannot  be  supposed  to  assert  that  baptism  is  of  itself  a 
sufficient  evidence  of  saving  faith  :  Simon  Magus  was  baptized,  who  had 
"no  part  or  lot  in  the  matter."  His  meaning  must  be,  that  the  ordi- 
nance in  question  forms  a  necessary  jsarf  of  the  evidence  of  faith,  inso- 
much that  in  the  absence  of  it  our  Lord  intended  no  other  should  be 
deemed  valid.  That  this  was  the  case  in  the  primitive  age  we  feel  no 
hesitation  in  affirming ;  we  have  also  showoi  at  large  the  reason  on 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  92.  t  Toid.  p.  18.  X  Ibid,  p  140. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  421 

which  that  conclusion  is  founded.  But  in  no  part  of  Scripture  is  there 
the  slightest  intimation  that  it  was  more  specifically  mtended  as  the  tes' 
of  faith,  than  compliance  with  any  other  part  of  the  mind  of  Christ ;  01 
that  it  was  in  any  other  sense  an  evidence  of  the  existence  of  that 
attainment,  than  as  it  was  necessary  to  evince  the  possession  of  Chris- 
tian sincerity.  Thus  much  we  are  most  willing  to  concede,  but  are  at 
a  loss  to  know  what  is  gained  by  it,  unless  our  opponent  could  demon- 
strate that  it  occupies  the  same  place  at  present,  and  that  it  is  still  ne- 
cessary to  constitute  a  valid  evidence  of  fa-ith  in  the  Redeemer.  If 
tliis  is  what  he  means  to  assert  (and  nothing  besides  has  the  least  rela- 
tion to  his  argument),  how  will  lie  reconcile  it  with  the  confidence  he  so 
often  expresses  of  the  piety  of  the  Pedobaptists  ?  His  objection  to  their 
communion,  he  elsewhere  informs  us,  "  does  not  arise  from  suspicions 
attaching  to  their  Christian  character,"*  to  which  he  trusts  he  is  always 
willing  to  render  ample  justice.  He  has  no  suspicion  of  the  piety  of 
those  who  are  destitute  of  that  which  Jesus  Christ  prescribed  as  the 
evidence  of  faith,  and  whom  he  affirms  "  it  is  impossible  for  the  church, 
acting  on  the  rule  which  he  has  laid  down,  to  recognise  as  his  disciples." 
I  am  at  a  loss  to  conceive  of  a  more  palpable  contradiction. 

If  there  be  any  meaning  in  terms,  the  word  evidence  means  that  by 
which  the  truth  of  a  fact  or  a  proposition  is  made  manifest,  and  the  ab- 
sence of  which  induces  either  hesitation  or  denial.  Its  place  in  the 
intellectual  world  corresponds  to  light  in  the  natural ;  and  h  is  just  as 
conceivable  how  an  object  can  be  beheld  without  light,  as  how  a  fact 
can  be  ascertained  without  evidence.  Mr.  Kinghorn,  it  seems,  however, 
has  contrived  to  solve  the  problem;  for  while  he  affirms  that  the  patrons 
of  infant  baptism  are  destitute  of  that  which  Infinite  Wisdom  has  pre- 
scribed as  the  evidence  of  faith,  and  by  which  we  are  to  recognise  his 
disciples,  he  expresses  as  firm  a  conviction  of  their  piety  as  though  they 
possessed  it  in  the  utmost  perfection.  Let  me  ask  on  what  is  his  con 
viction  founded — will  he  say  upon  evidence?  But  he  assigns  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  their  fellowship,  that  they  are  destitute  of  that  which 
Christ  prescribed  for  that  purpose.  Will  he  distinguish  between  that 
private  evidence  which  satisfies  his  own  mind,  and  the  sort  of  evidence 
which  Christ  has  demanded  and  enjoined  ?  But  what  unheard,  of  pre- 
sumption to  oppose  his  private  judgment  to  the  dictates  of  Heaven ; 
and,  while  the  Head  of  the  church  has  appointed  the  performance  of  a 
certain  ceremony  to  be  the  invariable  criterion  of  discipleship,  to  pretend, 
in  its  absence,  to  ascertain  it  by  another  medium  !  To  attempt  to  prove 
that  every  thing  really  is  what  God  has  appointed  it,  and  that  Infinite 
Wisdom,  where  figurative  language  is  excluded,  calls  things  by  their 
proper  names,  would  be  to  insult  the  understanding  of  the  reader.  If 
compliance  with  adult  baptism  is,  in  every  age,  the  appointed  evidence 
of  faith  in  Christ,  it  undoubtedly  is  what  it  pretends  to  be ;  and  to 
ascribe  faith  to  such  as  are  destitute  of  it  is  a  sort  of  impiety. 

"  No  church,"  he  assures  us,  "  acting  agreeably  to  the    rules    of 
Christ,  can  recognise  them  as  his  disciples."!     What  strange  magio 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  67.  t  Ibid.  p.  140. 


4-j-J  Rl'lMA'    ro   Ki:V.  JOSKIMI  KINGIIORN. 

lies  foucealfd  in  tlu'  word  diuirh  !  This  writer,  in  u  multiliule  of 
plaiM'i,  makes  no  M-niple  of  avowing  liis  altaclinicnts  to  tlie  nieinbera 
ol"  other  (lenoiniiiatii)ns  ;  he  even  anxionsly  jjuards  against  the  supposi- 
tion of  his  indulging  a  tlionght  to  tlie  prejudice  of  ilieir  piety;  and  the 
sentiments  wlueli  he  entertains  himself  lie  must  be  supposed  to  re- 
commend to  the  adoption  of  his  brethren.  In  his  individual  character, 
he  feels  no  objection  lo  recognise  them  to  the  full  as  Christians ;  nay, 
he  expresses  the  sentiments  of  recognition  in  a  studied  variety  of  phrase  ; 
but  the  moment  he  conceives  himself  in  a  church,  his  lone  is  altered, 
and  he  feels  himself  compelled  to  treat  them  as  strangers  and  foreigners. 
Why  this  contradiction  between  the  language  of  the  individual  and  the 
language  of  the  churcli  ?  If  they  are  Christians,  why  should  the 
knowledge  of  the  fact  be  suppressed  there  ?  We  are  taught  by  St. 
Paul  to  consider  the  church  as  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth, 
where  she  is  supposed  to  exhibit,  as  in  a  focus,  the  light  and  love  which 
actuate  her  respective  members ;  and  instead  of  dissonance  between 
her  public  principles  and  the  private  sentiments  of  her  members,  we 
naturally  look  fjr  a  perfect  harmony,  or  rather,  for  a  more  illustrious 
exhibition  of  what  every  one  thinks  and  feels  apart — for  a  great  and 
combined  movement  of  charity,  corresponding  lo  her  more  silent  and 
secret  inspirations.  But  we  are  doomed  to  anticipate  it  in  vain ;  for 
while  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  are  shocked  at  the  idea  of 
suspecting  the  piety  of  their  Pedobaptist  brethren,  they  contend  it  would 
be  criminal  to  recognise  it  in  the  church.  Wliat  mysterious  place  is 
this,  in  which  we  are  forbidden  to  acknowledge  a  truth  proclaimed 
without  scruple  everywhere  else  ;  which  possesses  the  property  of 
darkening  every  object  enclosed  within  its  limits,  and  of  rendering 
Christians  invisi4)le  and  impalpable  to  each  other !  In  the  broad  day- 
light of  the  world,  notwithstanding  their  minor  differences,  they  are 
recognised  with  facility ;  but  the  moment  we  enter  the  sombrous  gloom 
of  a  Baptist  church,  we  are  lost  from  each  other's  view  ;  and  like  those 
who  visited  the  cave  of  Triphonius,  return  pale,  dejected,  and  bewil- 
dered. Of  such  societies  we  might  be  almost  tempted  to  exclaim — ■ 
"My  soul,  come  not  thou  into  their  secret,  and  to  their  assembly  be 
not  thou  united  !"  Shocked  as  we  are  at  such  illiberalily,  we  sup- 
press the  emotions  which  naturally  arise  on  the  occasion,  remembering 
(strange  as  it  may  seem)  how  often  it  is  associated  with  talents  the 
most  respectable,  and  piety  it  e  most  fervent. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KIXGHORPT.  423 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  supposed  necessary  Connexion  between  the  two  positive  Institutes 
further  discussed,  wherein  other  Arguments  arc  examined. 

The  reader  can  scarcely  be  too  often  reminded  that  the  present 
controversy  turns  entirely  on  the  supposed  necessary  connexion  between 
the  two  positive  Christian  institutes ;  the  recollection  of  which  will  at 
once  convince  him  of  the  total  irrelevancy  of  much  which  it  has  been 
customary  to  urge  on  the  subject.  Our  opponents  frequently  reason  in 
such  a  manner  as  would  lead  the  reader  to  suppose  we  were  aiming  to 
set  aside  adult  baptism.  Thus  they  insist  on  the  clearness  with  which 
it  is  enjoined  and  exemplified  in  the  sacred  volume,  contend  for  its 
perpetuity,  and  represent  us  as  depreciating  its  value,  and  dispensing 
with  its  obligation ;  topics  which  might  be  introduced  with  propriety  in 
a  dispute  with  the  people  called  Quakers,  or  with  the  followers  of  Mr. 
Emlyn,  but  are  perfectly  irrelevant  to  the  present  inquiry.  It  surely 
requires  but  little  attention  to  perceive  that  it  is  one  thing  to  tolerate, 
and  another  to  sanction  ;  that  to  affirm  that  each  of  the  positive  rites  of 
religion  ought  to  be  attended  to,  and  that  they  are  so  related  that  a 
mistake  respecting  one  instantly  disqualifies  for  another,  are  not  the 
same  propositions.  An  attention  to  that  distinction  woidd  have  in- 
credibly shortened  the  present  debate,  and  shown  the  futility  of  much 
unmeaning  declamation,  and  even  of  much  unanswerable  argument. 
We  wish,  if  possible,  to  put  an  end  to  this  aKwuaxM,  this  fighting 
with  shadows  and  beating  the  air,  and  to  confine  the  discussion  to  the 
real  question,  which  is,  whether  the  two  positive  ordinances  of  the 
New  Testament  are  so  related  to  each  other,  either  in  the  nature  of 
things  or  by  express  command,  that  he  whom  we  deem  not  baptized 
is,  ipso  facto,  or  from  that  circumstance  alone,  disqualified  for  an 
attendance  at  the  Lord's  table.  This,  and  this  only,  is  the  question  in 
which  we  are  concerned. 

That  there  is  not  a  necessary  connexion,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
between  the  two  rites,  appears  from  the  slightest  attention  to  their 
nature.  It  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  founded  on 
baptism,  or  that  it  recognises  a  single  circumstance  belonging  to  it; 
nor  will  it  be  asserted  to  be  a  less  reasonable  service,  or  less  capable 
of  answering  the  design  of  its  appointment,  when  attended  to  by  a 
Pedobaptist,  than  by  persons  of  our  own  persuasion.  The  event  which 
it  "  shows  forth"  is  one  in  which  all  denominations  are  equally  in- 
terested ;  the  sacrifice  which  it  exhibits  is  an  oblation  of  whose  benefits 
they  equally  partake  ;  and  so  little  affinity  does  it  bear  to  baptism,  con- 
sidered as  a  ceremony,  that  the  most  profound  consideration  of  it  will 
not  suggest  the  idea  of  that  rite.  As  far  as  reason  is  capable  of  in- 
vestigating the  matter,  they  appear  separate  ceremonies,  no  otherwise 
related  than  as  they  emanate  from  the  same  source,  and  are  prescribed 
to   the   same  description  of  persons.     In  a  word,  judging  from  the 


4'»4  Ki:ri,v  TO  !{i;v.  Joseph  kinghorn. 

reason  of  liio  caso,  wo  slioulil  not  for  a  moment  suspect  that  tlie  obli 
g'alion  of  connnemorating  tlie  Saviour's  death  depended  upon  baptism: 
we  should  aseribc  it  at  once  to  the  injunction,  "Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me."  Since  positive  duties  arise  (to  human  apprehension  at  least) 
from  tlie  mere  will  of  the  legislator,  and  not  from  immutable  relations, 
their  nature  forbids  the  attempt  to  establish  tlieir  inherent  and  essential 
connexion.  In  the  present  case,  it  is  sufiicicnt  for  us  to  know  that 
whatever  God  has  thought  fit  to  enjoin  must  be  matter  of  duty  ;  and 
it  little  becomes  weak  and  finite  mortals  to  limit  its  sphere,  or  explain 
awav  its  obligation,  by  refined  and  subtle  distinctions. 

It  remains  to  be  considered  whether  the  necessary  connexion  we  are 
seeking  can  be  found  in  positive  prescription.  We  again  and  again 
call  upon  our  opponents  to  show  us  the  passage  of  Scripture  which 
asserts  that  dependence  of  the  Lord's  Supper  on  baptism  Avhich  their 
theory  supposes  ;  and  here,  when  we  ask  for  bread,  they  give  us  a 
stone.  Tlicv  quote  Christ's  commission  to  his  apostles,  where  there 
is  not  a  word  upon  the  subject,  and  which  is  so  remote  from  establishing 
the  essential  connexion  of  the  two  ceremonies,  that  the  mention  of  one 
of  them  onlv  is  included.  They  urge  the  conduct  of  the  apostles, 
though  it  is  not  only  sufficiently  accounted  for  on  our  principles,  but  is 
such  as  those  very  principles  would,  in  their  circumstances,  have  abso- 
lutely compelled  us  to  adopt  ;  and  surely  that  must  be  a  very  cogent 
proof  that  the  apostles  were  of  their  sentiments  which  is  derived  from 
a  matter  of  fact,  which  would  undeniably  have  been  just  what  it  is  on 
the  contrary  supposition.  They  baptized,  because  they  were  com- 
manded to  do  so ;  they  administered  the  Lord's  Supper,  because  oar 
Saviour  enjoined  it  on  his  disciples  ;  and  both  these  duties  were  pre- 
scribed to  the  societies  they  formed,  because  the  nature  and  obligation 
of  each  were  equally  and  perfectly  understood.  What  is  there  in  this, 
we  ask,  which  our  hypothesis  forbids  us  to  imitate,  or  Avhich,  had  we 
been  in  their  place,  our  views  would  not  have  obliged  us  to  adopt? 

The  late  excellent  Mr.  Fuller,  whose  mem.ory  commands  profound 
veneration,  attempts  in  his  posthumous  tract  on  this  subject  to  establish 
the  connexion  between  the  two  rites,  by  the  joint  allusion  made  to  them 
in  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul.  From  their  being  connected  together  in  his 
mind,  on  those  occasions,  he  infers  an  inherent  and  essential  connexion. 
With  this  view,  he  adduces  the  tenth  chtl^ter  of  his  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians,  which  asserts  that  the  ancient  Israelites  had  a  figurative 
baptism  "in  the  cloud,  and  in  the  sea,  and  did  all  eat  the  same  spirit- 
ual meat,  and  did  all  drink  the  same  spiritual  drink ;  for  ihey  drank  of 
that  rock  which  followed  them,  and  that  rock  was  Christ."  "  If  the 
apostle,"  he  remarks,  "had  not  connected  baptism  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  together  in  his  mind,  how  came  he  so  pointedly  to  allude  to 
them  both  in  this  passage  ?"  He  brings  forward  also  another  text  to 
the  same  purpose,  where  St.  Paul  affirms  we  are  all  "  baptized  into 
one  body,  and  are  all  made  to  drink  into  the  same  spirit."  It  is  freely 
admitted  that  these,  and  perhaps  other  texts  which  might  be  adduced, 
afford  examples  of  an  allusion  to  the  two  ordinances  at  the  same  time, 
whence  we  may  be  certain  that  they  were  present  together  in  the  mind 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  435 

of  the  writin-.  Bwt  whoever  considers  the  laws  of  association  must 
be  aware  how  trivial  a  circiimstauce  is  sufficient  to  unite  together  in 
the  mind  ideas  of  objects  among  which  no  essential  relation  subsists. 
The  mere  coincidence  of  time  and  place  is  abundantly  sufficient  lor 
that  purpose.  In  addressing  a  class  of  persons  distinguished  by  the 
possession  of  peculiar  privileges,  what  more  natural  than  to  combine 
them  in  a  joint  allusion,  without  intending  to  assert  their  relation  or 
dependence ;  just  as  in  addressmg  a  British  audience  on  a  poli-tical  oc- 
casion, the  speaker  may  easily  be  supposed  to  remind  them  at  the  same 
time  of  their  popular  representation,  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  and 
the  trial  by  jury,  without  meaning  to  affirm  that  they  are  incapable  of 
being  possessed  apart.  In  fact,  the  warmest  advocates  of  our  practice 
would  feel  no  sort  of  difficulty  in  adopting  the  same  style,  in  an  epistle 
to  a  church  which  consisted  only  of  Baptists  ;  consequently,  nothing 
■more  can  be  inferred,  than  that  the  societies  which  St.  Paul  addressed 
were  universally  of  that  description  ;  a  fact  we  have  already  fully 
conceded.  The  only  light  in  which  it  bears  upon  the  suljject  is 
that  which  makes  it  perfectly  coincide  with  the  argument  from  primitive 
precedent,  the  futility  of  which  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated. 

The  unities  which  the  apostle  enumerates  as  belonging  to  Christians, 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  are  also  set  in  opposition  to  us.  "  There 
is,"  saith  he,  "one  body  and  one  spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one 
hope  of  your  calling  ;  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all, 
who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all."  That  this  text  is 
irrelevant  to  the  present  argument  will  appear  from  the  following  con- 
siderations :  Since  no  mention  is  made  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  it  cannot 
be  intended  to  confirm  or  illustrate  the  relation  which  baptism  bears 
to  that  ordinance,  which  is  the  only  point  in  dispute.  Next,  it  is  very 
uncertain  whether  the  apostle  refers  to  water  baptism  or  to  the  baptism 
of  the  Spirit ;  but  admitting  that  he  intends  the  former,  he  asserts  no 
more  than  we  firmly  believe,  that  there  are  not  two  or  more  valid  bap- 
tisms under  the  Christian  dispensation,  but  one  only  ;  a  deviation  from 
which,  either  with  respect  to  the  subject  or  the  mode,  reduces  it  to  a 
nullity.  Lastly,  since  his  avowed  object  in  insisting  upon  these  unities, 
was  to  persuade  his  reader  to  maintain  inviolate  that  unity  of  the  spirit 
to  which  they  were  all  subservient,  it  is  extremely  unreasonable  to 
adduce  this  passage  in  defence  of  a  practice  which  involves  its  sub- 
version. "  The  same  fountain,"  St.  James  tells  us,  "  cannot  send  forth 
sweet  waters  and  bitter:"  but  here  we  see  an  attempt  to  deduce  discord 
from  harmony  ;  and  to  find  an  apology  for  dividing  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ,  in  the  most  pathetic  persuasive  to  unity.  The  celebrated 
Whitby,  a  Pedobaptist  and  an  Episcopalian,  appears  to  have  felt  the  full 
force  of  this  admirable  passage,  when  he  deduces  from  it  the  three 
following  propositions:  "1st.  That  sincere  Christians  only  are  truly 
members  of  that  church  catholic  of  which  Christ  is  the  head.  2dly. 
That  nothing  can  join  any  professor  of  Christianity  to  this  one  body, 
but  the  participation  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  3dly.  That  no  error  in 
judgment,  or  mistake  in  practice,  which  doth  not  tend  to  deprive  a 
Christian  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  can  separate  him  from  the  church  of 


42(i  Ki:iM,V  TO   Ki;\'.  JosKl'JI  KINGHORN. 

Christ."*  Thus  it  is  that  this  leai-ned  commentator  conceives  liiniself 
to  have  chscDvcrcd  a  denioiistration  of  tlie  principles  we  arc  abetting, 
in  llit>  very  words  our  opponents  uro;e  for  their  overtlnow. 

Such  is  the  suhsianee  of  Mr.  Fuller's  argumentation  on  tiie  subject; 
and  on  a  basjs  so  sliolu  did  lie  attempt  to  rear  the  edifice  of  strict  com- 
munion. In  how  dilferent  a  liglit  will  he  be  viewed  by  posteritv,  as 
the  victorious  impuijner  of  socinian  and  deisfical  impietv !  and  who, 
on  lookino-  back  on  iiis  achievements  in  that  field,  and  comparing  them 
with  his  feeble  elforts  in  the  present,  but  must  exclaim  with  regret 
quaiUnin  mutatus  ab  illo  !  Whether  he  felt  some  distrust  of  the  ground 
he  was  treading,  which  for  several  reasons  I  strongly  suspect,  or 
whether  it  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  infelicity  of  the  subject,  it  is  not 
easy  to  say ;  but  his  posthumous  pamphlet  on  (tommunion  will  un- 
questionably be  considered  as  the  feeblest  of  all  his  productions.  The 
worthy  editor  probably  calculated  on  great  effects  to  arise  from  the 
dying  sutTrage  of  a  man  so  highly  esteemed ;  but  before  he  ventured 
on  a  step  so  injurious  to  his  fame,  he  should  have  remembered,  that  we 
live  in  an  age  not  remarkably  disposed  to  implicit  faith,  even  in  the 
greatest  names. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  Mr.  Kinghorn,  with  whose  management 
of  the  subject  we  are  at  present  more  immediately  concerned.  As 
bold  a  polemic  as  Mr.  Fuller  was  generally  considered,  he  was  pusilla- 
nimity itself  compared  to  my  present  antagonist ;  who,  in  the  ardour 
of  combat,  has  not  scrupled  to  remove  landmarks  which  he,  I  am  well 
persuaded,  would  have  considered  as  sacred.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
he  has  infused  by  these  means  some  novelty  into  the  discussion,  and 
that  many  of  his  arguments  bear  an  original  stamp ;  but  whether  that 
novelty  is  combined  with  truth,  or  that  originality  is  such  as  will  ulti- 
mately secure  many  imitators  or  admirers,  is  another  question. 

Having  already  shown  that  no  inherent  connexion  subsists  between 
the  two  rites  under  discussion,  it  remains  to  be  considered,  as  we  have 
already  remarked,  whether  they  are  connected  by  positive  law.  Is 
there  a  single  word  in  the  New  Testament  which,  fairly  interpreted, 
can  be  regarded  as  a  prohibition  of  the  admission  of  unbaptized  persons 
to  the  Lord's  Supper? 

Let  Mr.  Kinghorn  answer  this  question  for  us ;  "  The  New  Testa- 
ment,'''' he  tells  us,  "  does  not  prohibit  the  unbaptized  from  receiving  the 
Lord''s  Supper,  because  no  circumstance  arose  which  rendered  such 
prohibition  necessary."!  Whether  a  prohibition  was  necessary  or  not 
involves  a  distinct  inquiry ;  we  request  the  reader's  attention  to  the 
important  concession,  that  it  does  not  exist.  The  reason  he  assigns, 
however,  for  its  not  being  necessary  is,  that  "  it  is  acknowledged  the 
law  of  baptism  was  clearly  understood,  and  that  the  unbaptized  could 
not  be  received  into  the  church.''  "  There  was,  therefore,^''  he  adds, 
"no  reason  why  a  prohibitory  declaration  should  exist."  We  fully 
agree  with  him,  that  at  the  period  of  which  he  is  speaking,  the  law 
of  baptism  was  fully  understood ;   and  on  that  account,  we  say,  such 

*  Wtiitty  in  loco.  t  Baptism  a  Tenn  of  Communion,  j).  32. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN,  42' 

-IS  rcliised  to  obey  jt  could  not  be  received  into  the  church.  »Ve  also 
admit,  that  while  there  was  tliis  clear  undei'standing,  no  such  prohibition 
as  we  demand  was  requisite.  But  if  it  was  rendered  unnecessary 
because  of  this  clear  understanding,  as  this  writer  informs  us,  must  it 
not  by  his  own  allowance  become  necessary,  when  that  understanding 
ceases  1  If  the  presence  of  one  thing  makes  another  unnecessary^ 
must  not  the  absence  of  the  same  thing  restore  the  necessity  ? 

In  the  present  instance,  the  only  reason  he  assigns  for  an  express 
prohibition  not  being  then  necessary  is,  that  the  ordinance  of  baptism 
was  perfectly  understood ;  surely  if  this  be  the  only  reason,  the  neces- 
sity must  return  when  that  reason  ceases ;  in  other  words,  there  will 
be  a  necessity  for  an  express  prohibition  of  the  unbaptized  whenever 
the  precept  respecting  baptism  ceases  to  be  understood.  Has  it,  or 
has  it  not,  ceased  (in  our  apprehension)  to  be  understood  by  modern 
Pedobaptists  ?  If  it  be  admitted  that  it  has,  then,  on  his  own  principle, 
an  express  prohibition  of  the  unbaptized  to  receive  the  Lord's  Supper 
has  become  necessary.  But  he  acknowledges  none  exists  ;  whence 
the  only  conclusion  to  be  deduced  is,  either  that  the  word  of  God 
has  omitted  what  is  necessary  in  itself,  or  (which  is  rather  more  proba- 
ble) what  is  necessary  to  support  his  hypothesis.  The  word  of  God, 
it  should  be  remembered,  makes  adequate  provision  for  the  direction 
'of  the  faithful  in  every  age,  being  written  under  the  guidance  of  that 
Spirit  to  whom  the  remotest  futurity  was  present ;  and  though  it  was 
by  no  means  requisite  to  specify  tlie  errors  M'hich  were  foreseen  to 
arise,  it  is  not  a  sufficient  rule,  unless  it  enables  us  to  discover  which 
of  these  are,  and  which  are  not,  to  be  tolerated  in  the  church.  The 
doctrine  which  asserts  that  baptism  is  an  indispensable  requisite  to 
communion  this  writer  expressly  informs  us  was  not  promulgated  to 
the  priuiitive  Christians,  because  they  did  not  need  it:  their  clear  under- 
stan(Hiig  of  the  nature  of  the  ceremony  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  secure  an 
attention  to  it,  in  the  absence  of  that  doctrine.  This  is  equivalent  to  an 
acknowledgment,  if  there  be  any  meaning  in  terms,  that  if  they  had  not 
had  the  clear  comprehension  of  the  ordinance  which  he  ascribes  to  them, 
they  would  have  needed  that  truth  to  be  propounded,  which  in  their 
situation  was  safely  suppressed.  But  if  the  primitive  Christians  would 
have  found  such  information  necessary,  how  is  it  thf.t  the  modern 
Pedobaptists,  who  are,  according  to  our  principles,  precisely  in  the 
situation  here  supposed,  can  dispense  with  it?  What  should  prevent 
them  from  turning  upon  Mr.  Kinghorn,  and  saying,  We  judge  our- 
selves baptized ;  but  supposing  we  are  not,  you  assert  that  there  is  no 
scriptural  prohibition  of  the  unbaptized  approaching  the  Lord's  table, 
which  you  yet  acknowledge  would  have  been  necessary  to  justify  the 
repelling  of  primitive  Christians  from  that  privilege,  had  it  not  been  for 
their  perfect  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  baptism.  But  as  vou  will  not 
assert  that  we  possess  that  knowledge,  how  will  you  defend  yourself 
in  treating  us  in  a  manner  which,  by  your  own  concession,  the 
apostles  would  not  have  been  justified  in  treating  their  immediate 
converts  ? 

li  was  generally  supposed  that  the  abetters  of  strict  communion 


42y  KKIMA'  TO  KKV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

imagiiioii  some  peculiar  connexion  between  baptism  and  tlie  Lord  s 
Supper  beyond  what  subsists  between  that  ceremony  and  other  parts 
of  Christianity.  Our  present  opponent  disclaims  that  notion.  "  ll"  the 
above  evidence,"  he  says,  "  be  justly  stated,  there  is  a  real  instituted 
connexion  between  baptism  and  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  Christian 
profession.  So  that  there  is  no  reason  why  the  connexion  between 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  more  distinctly  marked,  than  be- 
tween baptism  and  any  other  duty  or  privilege."*  But  if  this  be  the  case, 
why  do  they  conline  their  restriction  to  the  mere  act  of  communion 
at  liie  Lord's  table  ?  In  every  other  respect  they  feel  no  scruj)le  in 
acknowledging  the  members  of  other  denominations  as  Christidus : 
they  join  with  them  in  the  most  sacred  duties ;  they  interchange  devo- 
tional services ;  they  profess  to  value,  and  not  unfrequently  conde- 
scend to  entreat,  an  interest  in  their  prayers.  In  a  word,  tio  one  who 
had  not  witnessed  their  commemoration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  would 
suspect  they  made  any  distinction.  There  are  a  thousand  acts  which 
they  perform  towards  such  as  practise  infant-sprinkling,  which  would 
be  criminal  and  absurd  on  any  other  supposition  than  that  of  their  being 
members  of  Christ,  and  co-heirs  of  eternal  life.  By  the  mouth  of  our 
author,  whom  they  are  proud  of  considering  as  their  organ,  they  inform 
us  that  every  other  duty  and  privilege  is  as  inuch  dependent  on  baptism 
as  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist ;  yet  it  is  this  duty  and  this  privilege 
alone  in  which  they  refuse  to  participate  witli  Cin-istians  of  other  per- 
suasions. How  wUl  they  reconcile  their  practice  and  their  theory  ;  or 
rather,  how  escape  the  ridicule  attached  to  such  a  glaring  contradiction  ? 
The  Sandemanian  Baptists  have  taken  care  to  shelter  themselves  from 
such  animadversions,  by  a  stern  and  consistent  process  of  intolerance ; 
but  the  English  Baptists  appear  to  resemble  Ephraim,  who  mixed  Jiim- 
self  with  the  nations,  and  was  a  "  cake  half-turned."  Is  there  no  duty, 
is  there  no  privilege,  characteristic  of  a  Christian,  but  what  is  included 
in  receiving  the  sacrament  ?  How  is  it  that  they  have  presumed  to 
break  down  tlie  sacred  fence,  to  throw  all  open,  and  make  all  things 
common,  with  the  exception  of  one  narrow  enclosure?  What  in  the 
mean  lime  becomes  of  apostolic  practice  and  ancient  precedent?  How 
admirably  are  these  illustrated  by  their  judicious  selection  of  the  Lord's 
table  as  the  spot  over  which  to  suspend  the  ensigns  of  party ! 

When  we  read  of  Priscilla  and  Aqiiila  taking  Apollos  home,  and 
instructing  him  in  the  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfectly,  we  give  full 
credit  to  the  narrative ;  but  had  we  been  informed  that  these  excellent 
persons,  after  hearing  him  with  great  delight,  refused  his  admission  to  the 
supper  of  the  Lord,  on  account  of  some  diversity  of  opinion  or  of  practice, 
the  consent  of  all  the  manuscripts  and  versions  in  tlie  world  pould 
have  been  insufficient  to  overcome  the  incredulity  arising  from  an  in- 
stantaneous conviction  of  its  total  repugnance  to  the  maxiins  and  prin- 
ciples of  primitive  Christianity.  Yet  this  would  have  been  nothing 
more  than  an  anticipation  of  the  practice  of  our  opponents. 

They  attempt  to  justify  themselves  in  this  particular  on  two  grounds  ; 
first,  that  they  "  do  nothing  more  than  their  opponents  ;"  and  "  where 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  30.    . 


REPLY  TO  KEV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  4^9 

their  conduct  is  deemed  the  most  exceptionable,  they  only  oj^,f  the 
example  whicth  the  Pedobaptists  set  before  them,  and  support  by  pre- 
eminent talents."*  Theij  do  nothing  more  than  their  opponcnli  What 
then  ?  we  hold  no  principle  inconsistent  with  our  practice  ;  we  have  not 
confined  the  profession  of  Cliristianity  to  ourselves;  much  IcoS  are  we 
accustomed  to  make  a  practical  distinction  between  the  participation  of 
the  Eucharist  and  other  duties  and  privileges,  after  stating,  i«j  so  many 
words,  that  the  Scripture  authorizes  no  such  distinction.  The  plea 
derived  from  the  disposition  of  Pedobaptists  to  cultivate  a  religious 
intercourse  we  leave  to  be  answered  by  himself,  who  has  told  us  that 
"  we  meet  on  unequal  terms."  "  The  latter  (Pedobaptists,)  surrender 
no  principle,  they  do  not  unite  with  those  whom  they  deem  u.ibaptized."t 

Their  otlier  pretence  is,  that  "  prayer  and  praise  are  iiot  exclusive 
ordinances  of  the  church  ;  that  they  were  in  being  before  ii  was  formed, 
.and  have  been  parts  of  true  religion  under  every  dispenaation."|  But 
is  it  not  the  peculiar  prerogative  of  the  faithful  to  offer  acceptable  devo- 
tion ?  Is  noi  prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus  a  peculiarity  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation, and  is  not  the  requesting  a  Pedobaptist  to  present  it  on  our 
behalf  as  clear  an  acknowledgment  of  his  Christianity  as  admitting 
him  to  communion,  and,  consequently,  as  incompatible  with  his  own 
maxim,  that  the  "  church  of  Christ,  acting  upon  the  rule  he  has  laid 
down,  cannot  recognise  any  person  as  his  disciple  who  is  not  baptized 
in  his  name  ?" 

Mr.  Kinghorn  is  bound,  by  his  own  declarati&a,  in  his  treatment  of 
other  denominations,  to  abstain  from  every  actioii  which  will  imply  an 
explicit  acknowledgment  of  their  oeing  Christians  ;  so  that,  as  far  as  he 
is  concerned,  it  is  of  no  consequence  whatever  whether  prayer  or 
praise  belong  to  natural  or  revealed  religion,  or  whether  they  are 
or  are  not  exclusive  ordinances  of  the  church:  the  only  question  is, 
whether  the  reciprocation  of  such  services  with  other  denominations 
be  not  a  recognition  of  their  Christianity.  If  it  be,  he  is,  by  his  acknow- 
ledgment, as  much  obliged  to  abandon  it  as  the  practice  of  mixed 
comnuuiion,  and  exactly  for  the  same  reason  ;  since  he  informs  us  that 
his  objections  to  that  practice  are  not  founded  on  any  pecw^zar  connexion 
between  communion  and  baptism,  but  on  the  common  relation  which 
the  latter  bears  to  "  all  the  duties  of  Cliristianity." 

The  preceding  remarks  are  more  than  sufficient  to  evince  his  incon- 
sistency with  himself;  which,  however  glaring,  is  not  more  so  than  his 
deviation  from  ancient  precedent,  f  hat  the  first  Christians  did  not 
interchange  religious  services  with  those  with  whom  they  refused  to 
communicate, — that  they  did  not  countenance,  in  the  exercise  of  their 
ministry,  men  whom  they  refused  to  acknowledge  as  members  of  the 
church,  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  attempt  to  prove;  the  f?ct  will  be 
instantly  admitted.  Let  it  be  also  remembered  that  this  deviation  is 
of  far  greater  magnitude  than  that  with  which  we  are  accused.  Who 
that  remembers  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meats  nor  drinks,  tha 
its  nature  is  spiritual,  not  ritual,  can  doubt  that  the  moral  duties  of 
religion,  the  love  of  the  brethren,  with  its  diversified  fruits  and  effects, 

♦  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  173.  f  Ib'd- P- 64.  {  I'oid.  p.  175 


430  UK  IMA     TO  Ui:V.  JOSEPH  KTNGHORN. 

tiiktMi  in  ilu'ir  wliolo  o.\ti>nt,  Ibnn  a  more  importiint  object  than  the 
single  observation  of  the  Eucharist? 

Air.  Kinuhorn  biniselt"  deprecates  the  very  suspicion  of  placing  even 
baptism,  in  jioint  of  importance,  on  a  level  with  the  least  of  the  morai 
prece])is  of  Clwist.  But  with  respect  to  the  whole  of  these,  they  allow 
themsehes  to  depart  as  far  from  scriptural  precedent,  in  its  literal 
interpretation,  as  ourselves.  In  the  aflair  of  communion,  they  boast 
of  adhering  to  "  that  plain  rule  of  conduct"  (to  adopt  my  opponent's 
words),  "*o  did  the  apostles,  and  therefore  so  do  loe."*  But  here  their 
conformity  stops  ;  in  every  other  branch  of  social  religion,  in  whatever 
respects  the  interior  of  the  kingdom,  ihey  claim  the  liberty  of  treating 
the  unbaptizcd  in  precisely  the  same  manner  with  members  of  their 
own  denomination,  wherein  they  pronounce  their  own  condemnation ; 
for  what  should  prevent  us  from  retorting,  "io  did  twt  the  apostles,  hut 
so  do  ye  i*" 

The  distress  and  embarrassment  wdiich  the  consciousness  of  this 
glaring  inconsistency  occasioned  the  venerable  Booth  are  sufficiently 
depicted  in  his  Apology.  The  sturdy  saint  perfectly  reels  and  staggers 
under  its  insupportable  weight :  which,  to  use  the  language  of  Arch- 
bishop Tillotson,  is  a  millstone  round  the  neck  of  strict  communion, 
which  will  inevitably  sink  it  into  perdition  ;  an  incongruity  which  the 
most  obtuse  understanding  perceives,  and  no  degree  of  acumen  can 
defend;  and  which  so  totally  annuls  the  plea  of  original  precedent, 
which  is  their  sheet-anchor,  as  to  leave  it  doubtful  whether  its  advocates 
are  most  at  variance  with  the  apostles  or  with  themselves.  The 
venerable  apologist  has  recourse  to  the  same  distinctions  with  the  pres- 
ent writer,  but  with  so  little  success,  and,  apparently,  with  so  little  satis- 
faction to  himself,  that  if  the  spirit  of  controversy  did  not  blunt  our 
sensibility,  we  should  sincerely  sympathize  with  his  distress.  It  is 
humiliating  to  see  the  manly  and  majestic  mind  of  a  Booth  stooping  to 
such  miserable  logomachies. 

The  advocates  of  the  restrictive  system  must  change  iheir  ground ; 
they  must  either  go  forw'ards  or  backwards.  They  have  already  con- 
ceded so  much  to  the  members  of  other  denominations,  that,  if  they 
would  preserve  the  least  show  of  consistency,  they  must  either  concede 
more  or  withdraw  what  they  have  granted.  They  have  most  unrea- 
sonably and  capriciously  stopped,  and  fixed  their  encampment  where  no 
mortal  before  ever  thought  of  staying  for  a  moment.  They  have  already 
made  such  near  approaches  to  the  great  body  of  those  whom  we  deem 
unbaptized,  as  places  them  at  an  unmeasurable  distance  from  the  letter 
of  tlie  apostolic  precedent,  tliough  in  perfect  harmony  with  its  spirit ; 
while  they  preposterously  cling  to  that  letter,  as  the  reason  for  refusing 
to  go  an  inch  farther.  They  remain  immoveable  (to  change  the  figure), 
not  because  they  rest  on  any  solid  basis,  but  because  they  are  sus- 
pended between  the  love  of  the  brethren  and  the  remains  of  intole- 
rance ;  just  as  Mahomet's  tomb  is  said  to  hang  between  two  magnets  of 
equal  powers,  placed  in  opposite  directions. 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  98 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHQRN.  43^ 

The  Scottish  Baptists  (as  I  have  been  informed)  act  consistently- 
Conceiving,  with  Mr.  Kinghorn,  that  immersion,  on  a  profession  of 
faitli,  is  a  necessary  introduction  to  the  Christian  profession,  tliey  uni 
fornily  abstain  from  a  participation  in  sacred  offices  with  the  members 
of  other  societies,  and,  without  pretendiivg-  to  judge  of  their  final  state, 
treat  them  on  every  occasion  as  men  whose  rehgious  pretensions  ai'e 
doul)tful.  Whoever  considers  the  import  of  the  following  passage  will 
be  surprised  Mr.  Kinghorn  should  feel  any  hesitation  in  adopting  the 
same  system.  "  It  is  granted,"  says  our  author,  "  that  baptism  is  not 
expressly  mculcated  as  a  preparative  to  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  neither  is  it 
inculcated  as  a  preparative  to  any  thing  else.  But  the  first  act  of 
Christian  obedience  is,  of  course,  succeeded  by  the  rest ;  and  the  re- 
quired acknowledgment  of  our  faith  in  Christ,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
ought  to  precede  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  which  arise  from  faith."* 

By  the  Jlrst  act  of  Christian  obedience  he  unquestionably  intends 
the  reception  of  baptism ;  and  the  meaning  of  the  sentence  turns 
entirely  on  the  word  Jirst.  He  designs  to  assert,  that  such  is  the  pre- 
scribed order  of  religious  actions,  that  unless  that  ordinance  is  first 
attended  to,  every  other  performance  is  invalid ;  that  whatever  it  may 
be  in  itself,  not  occupying  its  proper  place,  it  cannot  lay  claim  to  the 
character  of  a  duty.  We  should  be  extremely  concerned  at  imposing 
a  false  construction  on  his  words ;  but  if  this  is  not  his  meaning,  we 
despair  of  discovering  it.  But  if  our  interpretation  is  just,  unless  we 
can  conceive  of  a  religion  availing  for  eternal  life,  in  the  total  absence 
of  duties,  it  is  equivalent  to  asserting  that  none  besides  our  denomina- 
tion possess  true  religion.  He  expressly  tells  us  every  other  duty  must 
succeed,  that  is,  must  come  after  baptism,  which,  with  respect  to  Pedo 
baptists,  is  impossible  on  our  principles  ;  whence,  it  necessarily  follows, 
that  wliile  they  retain  their  sentiments  they  are  disqualified  for  the  per- 
formance of  duty.  The  only  conceivable  method  of  evading  this  con- 
clusion is  to  make  a  distinction,  and  to  affirm,  that  though  baptism 
ought,  agreeably  to  the  institution  of  Christ,  to  precede  the  other 
branches  of  religion,  yet  that  when  it  is  omitted  from  a  misconception 
or  mistake,  the  omission  is  not  of  such  magnitude  as  to  prevent  their 
being  accepted.  But  should  our  author  explain  himself  in  this  manner, 
he  will  not  only  coincide  with  us,  but  his  argument  for  strict  communion 
is  relinquished.  Having  acknowledged  that  "the  connexion  between 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  is  not  more  directly  marked  in  Scripture 
than  between  that  ordinance  and  any  other  duty ,t  were  he  now  to  make 
a  distinction  in  favour  of  the  sacrament,  and  confine  their  disqualifica- 
tion to  that  particular,  he  would  be  guilty  of  an  express  contradiction. 
Nor  are  his  words  susceptible  of  such  an  interpretation.  The  assertion 
he  makes  is  in  the  form  of  a  general  proposition  ;  which  is,  that  all  the 
duties  of  Christianity  must  succeed  baptism,  in  contradiction  to  going 
before  it ;  and  the  disqualification  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  he  repre- 
sents the  Pedobaptists  as  lying  under,  is  inferred  solely  from  the  con- 
sideration of  its  constituting  a  part  of  those  duties. 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  30.  \  Ibid. 


432  REPLY  TO  MKY.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Tluisimu'Ii  lor  tlu'  tlutics ;  let  us  next  hear  what  he  says  of  tl  e  pn- 
vitii^'is  ol'  Cluisiianity.  Baptism,  which  he  styU-s  "the  requin  d  ac- 
knowh'tli;im  ill  ol'  our  faitli  in  Christ,"  he  tells  us,  "ought  \o  precede  the 
enjoynjint  of  tlie  privileges  which  arise  from  faith."  They  oitglit  to 
precede,  hut  (/o  they  in  fact?  Is  it  his  opinion  that  all  other  sects,  as  a 
punisluueni  for  dieir  disobedience  in  one  particular,  are  left  destitute  of 
the  spiritual  innnunities  which  flow  from  faith?  If  it  is  not,  it  be- 
hooves him  to  reflect  on  the  presumption  of  such  a  mode  of  speakino-, 
which  is  little  less  than  arraigning  the  wisdom  of  tlie  great  Head  of 
the  church,  who  dispenses  his  favours  in  a  manner  so  diflerent  from  that 
V  liich  he  ventures  to  prescribe.  Should  he  reply,  that  Jesus  Christ,  as 
a  sovereign,  is  at  liberty  to  act  as  he  pleases,  but  that  we  are  under  an 
obligation  of  adhering  to  the  settled  order  of  his  house,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  this  evasion  is  neither  consistent  with  truth  nor  sufficient 
to  establish  his  consistency  with  himself.  Are  not  his  partisans  in  the 
daily  habit  of  exhibiting  towards  the  members  of  other  societies  tokens 
of  their  fraternal  regard,  of  inviting  them  to  every  branch  of  Christian 
fellowship,  short  of  admission  to  the  sacrament  ?  Will  thev  deny  that 
the  communion  of  saints,  even  in  the  absence  of  that  institution,  is  an 
important  privilege  ? 

In  the  next  place,  to  represent  the  bestowment  of  spiritual  blessings 
on  the  great  body  of  the  faithful,  through  the  lapse  of  fifteen  centuries, 
whose  salvability,  it  is  confessed,  is  capable  of  demonstration  from 
Scripture, — to  speak  of  this  as  an  extraordinary  and  extrajudicial  pro- 
cedure, is  to  confound  the  most  obvious  distinctions. 

The  terms  of  salvation,  which  are,  radically,  faith  and  repentance, 
are  clearly  propounded  in  the  word  of  God ;  and  surely  it  will  not  be 
doubted  that  multitudes  out  of  the  pale  of  our  sect  have  exhibited  such 
proofs  of  their  possessing  these  qualifications,  that  their  enjoyment  o. 
the  Divine  favour  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  a  secret  economy,  similar  to 
what  has  been  conjectured  by  some  to  extend  to  virtuous  pagans. 
Where  revelation  is  silent,  it  becomes  us  to  copy  its  reserve  ;  but  in  the 
present  instance,  so  far  is  this  from  being  the  case,  that  few  propositions 
are  more  susceptible  of  proof  from  that  quarter,  than  that  an  error 
with  respect  to  a  positive  rite  is  not  fatal ;  whence  the  necessary  in- 
ference is,  that  the  bestowment  of  his  favours  on  such  as  labour  under 
that  imperfection  is  a  known  part  of  his  conduct :  that  it  is  not  only 
his  intention  so  to  act,  but  that  he  has  taken  effectual  care  to  inform  us 
of  it ;  not,  Ave  presume,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  us  to  contradict  it, 
but  as  a  pattern  for  our  humble  imitation. 

When  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  upon  the  gentiles  assembled  in  the  house 
of  Cornelius,  though  Peter  had,  a  short  time  before,  doubted  the  lawful- 
ness even  of  eating  with  them,  he  considered  it  as  such  a  seal  of  the 
Divine  approbation,  that  he  felt  no  hesitation  in  immediately  admitting 
them  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  church.  He  did  not  presume  (with 
reverence  be  it  spoken)  to  be  stricter  or  more  orderly  than  God.  "  For 
asmuch,"  said  he,  "  as  God  gave  them  the  like  gift  as  he  did  unto  us 
who  believed,  who  was  I  that  I  should  withstand  God  ?"  a  question 
which  we  presume  to  recommend  to  the  serious  consideration  of  Mr 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  433 

Kinghorn  ;ui(l  his  ;jssoci;Ues.  The  principle  on  which  he  justified  his 
conduct  is  pluinly  this,  that  when  it  is  once  ascertained  that  an  indi- 
vidual is  the  object  of  Divine  acceptance,  it  would  be  impious  to  with- 
hold from  him  any  religious  privilege.  Until  it  be  shown  that  tliis  was 
not  the  principle  on  which  he  rested  his  defence,  or  that  the  practice 
of  strict  communion  is  consistent  with  it,  we  shall  feel  ourselves  com- 
pelled to  discard,  with  just  detestation,  a  system  of  action  which  St. 
Peter  contemplated  with  horror,  as  icithstanding  God :  and  when  I 
consider  it  in  this  just  and  awful  liglit,  I  feel  no  hesitation  in  avowing 
my  conviction  that  it  is  replete  with  worse  consequences,  and  is  far 
more  offensive  to  God,  than  that  corruption  of  a  Christian  ordinance  to 
which  it  is  opposed.  The  latter  affects  the  exterior  only  of  our  holy 
religion,  the  former  its  vitals ;  where  it  inflicts  a  Avound  on  the  very 
heart  of  charity,  and  puts  the  prospect  of  union  among  Christians  to 
.an  interminable  distance. 

This  new  doctrine,  that  the  tenure  by  which  religious  privileges  are 
held  is  appropriated  to  the  members  of  one  inconsiderable  sect,  must 
strike  the  serious  reader  with  astonishment.  Are  we  in  reality  the  only 
persons  who  possess  an  interest  in  the  common  salvation  ?  If  we  are 
not,  by  what  title  do  others  possess  it  ?  Certainly  not  in  consequence 
of  their  faith,  for  we  are  expressly  taught  by  this  writer,  that  baptism 
must  precede  the  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  whicli  arise  from  faith  ;* 
in  which,  however,  he  expressly  contradicts  himself,  for  he  assures  us 
that  none  are  fit  subjects  of  baptism  who  are  not  previously  believers 
in  Christ,  and  justified  in  the  sight  of  God  by  their  faith.  He  must 
either  say,  then,  that  they  lose  their  justification  unless  they  comply 
with  that  ordinance,  or  present  us  with  the  portentous  doctrine  of  a 
justification  which  stands  alone,  a  widowed  and  barren  justification, 
productive  of  no  advantage  to  its  possessor. 

Let  it  also  be  seriously  considered,  whether  the  positions  we  have 
been  examining  do  not  coincide  with  the  doctrine  of  the  oprts  operatum, 
the  opprobrium  of  the  Romish  church.  But  as  some  of  my  readers 
may  not  be  acquainted  with  the  meaning  of  these  terms,  it  is  proper  to 
remark,  that  the  Church  of  Rome  attributes  the  highest  spiritual  benefits 
to  certain  corporeal  actions,  or  ceremonies,  independent  of  the  char- 
acter and  disposition  of  the  performer.  For  example,  she  believes  that 
the  ceremony  of  baptism  secures  to  the  unconscious  infant,  by  its 
intrinsic  efficacy,  the  infusion  of  regenerating  grace,  without  regard  to 
the  intention  or  disposition  of  the  parties  concerned ;  and  that  the 
element  of  bread  in  the  sacrament  operates  in  the  same  manner  in  pro- 
curing the  pardon  and  augmenting  the  grace  of  the  communicant. 
Hence  the  members  of  that  church  lay  little  stress  on  the  exercise  of 
faith,  and  the  cultivation  of  holy  dispositions,  compared  to  the  de- 
pendence they  place  on  "bodily  exercise,"  on  masses,  penances, 
auricular  confessions,  and  a  multitude  of  external  observances,  which 
form  the  substance  of  theii  religion.  Consistent  Protestants,  on  the 
contrary,  while  they  conscientiously  attend  to  every  positive  institute, 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  30. 

Vol.  I.— E  6 


434  RKPT.Y  TO  RKV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN 

acoordiiii.'  to  the  measure  of  their  liijht,  look  upon  the  few  and  simple 
ceremonies  of  the  ijospel  as  incapable  of  aUbrcling  the  smallest  benefit 
apart  from  the  dispositions  and  intentions  with  which  they  are  per- 
formed ;  uiireeably  to  the  doctrine  of  our  Saviour,  who  tells  us,  that 
"  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  ihey  tliat  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth."  To  expatiate  on  the  incalculable  mischiefs  which  have 
arisen  from  this  doctrine  is  foreign  to  our  purpose ;  suffice  it  to  remark 
that  it  is  held  in  just  detestation  by  all  enlightened  Christians. 

Our  business  is  to  show  the  coincidence  of  Mr.  Kinghorn's  principles 
with  that  most  dangerous  and  exploded  tenet.  He  contends  that  the 
mere  absence  of  a  ceremony,  or,  if  you  please,  an  incorrect  manner  of 
performing  it,  is,  of  itself,  sufficient,  exclusive  of  every  other  considera- 
tion, to  incur  the  forfeiture  of  Christian  privileges;  oi  i\\G  privileges  in 
general  which  arise  from  faith.*  It  is  not,  according  to  him,  merely 
the  forfeiture  of  a  title  to  the  Eucharist  which  it  involves  ;  that,  he  in- 
forms us,  is  not  more  affected  by  it  than  any  other  privilege :  it  is  the 
universal  privation  of  Christian  immunities  which  is  the  immediate  con- 
sequence of  that  omission  ;  and,  as  he  acknowledges  that  many  to  whom 
it  attaches  are  regenerated,  they  must  consequently  be  endowed  with 
right  dispositions.  For  what  is  that  renovation  of  mind  which  can  exist 
without  them  ?  But  if  such  as  are  possessed  of  these  in  the  most  emi- 
nent degree,  which  he  acknowledges  is  the  case  with  some  Pedobaptists, 
are  yet  debarred  from  spiritual  privileges,  wherein  does  this  differ  from 
ascribing  that  efficacy  to  an  external  rite  which  is  supposed  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  opus  operatum  ?  and  if  those  who  have  faith  are  not  entitled 
to  the  benefits  which  result  from  it,  because  a  certain  ceremony  is  want- 
ing, how  is  it  possible  to  ascribe  more  to  that  ceremony  ? 

Whatever  degree  of  prejudice  or  inattention  we  may  be  disposed  to 
impute  to  some  of  the  advocates  of  infant  baptism,  it  would  be  the  high- 
est injustice  to  comprehend  them  all  under  the  same  censure.  There 
are  those,  no  doubt,  who,  without  adopting  our  views,  have  exercised 
as  much  thought  and  exerted  as  much  impartiality  on  the  subject  as 
our  observation  authorizes  us  to  expect  from  the  brightest  specimens  of 
human  nature  :  nay,  this  author  admits  that  "  it  is  possible  they  may  be 
some  of  the  most  exalted  characters  in  point  of  piety."t  But  it  surely 
cannot  be  doubted  that  they  who  merit  this  encomium  are  as  conscien- 
tious in  their  performance  of  infant,  as  we  in  the  administration  of  adult 
baptism ;  and  as  they  are,  by  the  very  supposition,  actuated  by  disposi- 
tions exactly  the  same,  the  pure  intention  of  pleasing  and  glorifying 
God,  if  we  still  conceive  them  deprived  of  the  privileges  which  we  pos- 
sess, the  difference  must  be  ascribed  merely  to  a  ceremony,  and  the 
opus  operatum  returns  in  its  full  force.  This,  however,  is  too  faint  a 
statement.  It  returns  in  a  form  more  aggravated  ;  for  the  Papist  only 
contends  for  a  mysterious  union  between  the  outward  rite  and  the  inward 
grace,  to  which  the  regenerating  influence  is  immediately  ascribed,  and 
from  which  it  is  considered  as  inseparable ;  whereas,  on  the  present 
hypothesis,  regeneration  and  faith  are  supposed  to  exist  in  the  absence 
nf  the  ceremony,  but  to  be  deprived  of  their  prerogatives.     The  system 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Commvmion,  p.  30.  f  Ibid. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  435 

of  the  Papist  exalts  the  ritual  part  of  religion  to  an  unwarrantable 
height,  without  depreciating  the  spiritual  and  internal ;  the  system  of 
my  opponent  does  both. 

Thus  I  have  endeavoured  to  examine,  with  the  utmost  care  and  im- 
partiality, whatever  our  author  has  advanced  in  order  to  prove  the 
necessary  connexion  between  the  two  positive  ordinances  under  con- 
sideration. My  apology  for  extending  the  discussion  to  a  length  tedious> 
it  is  feared,  to  the  reader,  is,  that  this  is  the  point  on  which  the  whole 
controversy  hinges.  As  far  as  its  real  merits  are  concerned,  I  might, 
therefore,  be  excused  from  pursuing  the  subject  further.  If  the  argu- 
ments of  Mr.  I{inghorn  on  this  head  are  satisfactorily  refuted,  and  the 
contradictions  and  absurdities  into  which  he  has  fallen  laid  open  to  the 
reader,  he  is  already  sufficiently  answered.  That  he  has  taken  differ- 
ent ground  from  his  venerable  predecessor  will  not  be  disputed.  He 
has  argued  from  premises  and  adopted  principles  to  which  that  excellent 
person  made  no  approach.  Mr.  Booth,  whatever  was  his  success, 
remained  on  terra  jirma ;  our  author  has  attempted  a  flight  beyond 
"  the  diurnal  orb,"  but,  approaching  too  near  the  sun,  his  pinions  are 
melted,  and  his  fall  will  be  conspicuous  in  exact  proportion  to  the  ele- 
vation to  which  he  has  aspired.  He  was  determined  to  give  the  con- 
troversy a  new  and  imposing  aspect ;  and  conscious  that  the  practice 
which  he  undertook  to  defend  had  been  hitherto  rested  on  no  very  dis- 
tinct basis,  he  determined  to  dig  deep  for  a  foundation,  and,  in  so  doing, 
has  disturbed  the  most  received  opinions  and  endangered  the  most 
momentous  truths.  Were  I  permitted  to  prognosticate  his  fate,  I  should 
say  that  his  paradoxical  mode  of  defence,  whatever  applause  it  may  meet 
with  at  present,  will  in  the  end  be  of  infinite  injury  to  the  cause  ;  and 
his  treatise,  like  the  little  book  in  the  Apocalypse,  be  "  sweet  in  the 
mouth  and  bitter  in  the  belly." 

But  though  what  has  already  been  advanced  may  be  considered  as 
comprehending  all  that  is  essential  in  the  controversy,  as  he  has  thought 
fit  to  introduce  other  topics,  the  re.ader  is  requested  to  exercise  his 
patience  while  we  reply  to  his  most  important  observation  on  each  of 
these ;  after  which  we  shall  endeavour  to  show  the  futility  of  the 
answer  he  has  attempted  to  the  principal  arguments  adduced  in  favour 
of  our  practice. 

Ee2 


PART    II. 

THE  COLLATERAL  TOPICS  INTRODUCED  BY  MR.  KINGHORN 
CONSIDERED. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Charge  of  dispensing  vnth  a  Christian  Ordinance  considered. 

Among  the  various  objections  to  the  system  we  wish  to  see  univer. 
Bally  adopted  in  our  churches,  there  is  none  more  frequently  insisted 
upon  than  that  of  its  implying  a  right  to  dispense  with  a  command  of 
Christ.*  Though  the  treatise  on  the  Terms  of  Communion  contains  a 
clear  answer  to  this  accusation,  yet,  as  it  is  again  brought  forward 
by  our  author  with  unabated  confidence,  a  fuller  reply  may  be  deemed 
requisite. 

This  writer  supposes  that  the  expression  "  dispensing  power,"  so  often 
used  in  this  controversy,  was  first  suggested  by  the  conduct  of  Charles 
the  Second,  in  granting  indulgence  to  the  dissenters  beyond  the  allow- 
ance of  law,  a  measure  which  was  afterward  adopted  for  similar  pur- 
poses by  James,  his  successor.  It  is  surprising  a  person  of  Mr. 
Kinghorn's  acknowledged  learning  should  fall  into  such  an  error ;  that 
he  should  not  know  that  the  doctrine  of  dispensation  was  familiar  to 
preceding  ages,  and  was  the  subject  of  much  subtle  disquisition  and  of 
many  refined  distinctions  among  legal  writers.  It  is  impossible  but  that 
he  must  have  read  in  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  power  of  dispensation 
assumed  by  the  pope,  which  formed  a  principal  branch  of  the  papal 
revenue,  and  the  exertion  of  which  was  regulated  by  the  dictates  of  the 
most  artful  policy.  He  cannot,  surely,  have  forgotten  that  the  refusal 
to  exercise  this  prerogative,  when  it  was  demanded  in  order  to  gratify  the 
capricious  passions  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  Avas  the  immediate  occasion 
of  the  Reformation  in  England. 

The  power  of  dispensation  is  the  power  of  setting  aside  the  law  in  a 
particular  instance.  It  may  be  exerted  by  the  legislature  or  by  the 
executive  branch  of  government,  under  certain  regulations,  and  to  a 
certain  extent,  previously  settled  and  provided  for  by  the  original  con- 
stitution of  the  state.  As  the  operation  of  law  is  general,  and  the 
actions  to  which  it  applies  are  susceptible  of  endless  modifications  and 
varieties,  some  such  power  may  be  occasionally  requisite  to  adapt  it 
more  perfectly  to  unexpected  emergencies,  and,  by  a  deviation  from  the 
letter,  to  secure  its  spirit  and  design.     There  is  one  circumstance,  how- 

*  Here  the  following  question  deserves  our  serious  regard,  first,  "  Have  we  any  right  to  dispense 
with  a  clear  command  of  Christ  ?"— Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  90 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  437 

ever,  which  is  invariably  attached  to  the  exercise  of  this  prerogative, 
which  shows  the  impropriety  of  making  it  llie  ground  of  accusation  in 
the  present  controversy.  It  always  implies  a  known  and  conscious 
departure  iroin  the  law.  He  who  claims  a  dispensing  power  asserts 
his  right  to  deviate  from  the  letter  of  legal  enactments ;  but  whoever 
merely  misinterprets  their  meaning,  and  on  that  account  applies  them  to 
a  case  which  they  were  not  designed  to  comprehend,  or  neglects  to  carry 
them  into  execution  within  their  proper  sphere  (as  his  conduct  is  consist- 
ent with  the  utmost  reverence  for  the  law),  is  at  a  great  remove  from  ex- 
erting a  dispensing  power.  He  betrays  his  ignorance,  but  usurps  nothing. 
When  the  pope  granted  a  dispensation,  enabling  certain  persons  to 
marry  within  the  prohibited  degrees,  he  sanctioned  an  acknowledged 
violation  of  the  ecclesiastical  canons ;  just  as  Charles  the  First  and 
James  the  Second,  in  their  respective  proclamations  of  indulgence  to 
tender  consciences,  proceeded  in  direct  opposition  to  existing  statutes. 
But  we  are  conscious  of  no  such  procedure  ;  if  we  err,  we  err  from 
ignorance.  We  contend  that  the  law  is  in  our  favour,  and  challenge 
our  opponents  to  prove  the  contrary ;  we  ask  what  prohibition  we 
violate  by  the  practice  of  admitting  good  men  to  communion,  though 
they  are  not  supposed  to  be  baptized?  This  writer  acknowledges 
there  is  none,  but  attempts  to  supply  the  defect  by  general  reasoning, 
which  appears  to  us  inconclusive.  Such  is  precisely  the  state  of  the 
dispute ;  not  whether  we  have  a  right  to  depart  from  the  law,  but 
whether  there  be  any  law  to  which  our  practice  is  opposed.  We 
acknowledge  the  immersion  of  believers  in  the  name  of  Christ  is  a  duty 
of  perpetual  obligation ;  we  are  convinced  of  the  same  respecting  the 
commemoration  of  our  Saviour's  passion.  Both  these  duties  we  ac- 
cordingly urge  on  the  followers  of  Christ,  by  such  arguments  as  the 
Scriptures  supply ;  but  when  we  are  not  so  happy  as  to  produce  con- 
viction, we  admit  them,  without  scruple,  to  the  fellowship  of  the  church ; 
not  because  we  conceive  ourselves  to  possess  a  dispensing  power,  a 
pretension  most  foreign  from  our  thoughts,  but  because  we  sincerely 
believe  them  entitled  to  it,  by  the  tenor  of  the  Christian  covenant,  and 
that  we  should  be  guilty  of  highly  ofiending  Christ  by  their  refusal. 
The  law  which  we  are  supposed  to  violate  in  this  instance  we  affirm 
is  a  mere  human  invention,  a  mere  fiction  of  the  brain,  entirely  un- 
supported by  the  word  of  God,  which  distinctly  lays  down  two  positive 
institutes,  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  suggests  nothing  from 
which  we  can  conclude  that  they  rest  upon  each  other,  rather  than 
that  the  obligation  of  both  is  founded  on  the  express  injunction  of  the 
legislator.  It  is  our  opponents,  we  assert,  who,  in  the  total  silence  of 
Scripture,  have  presumed  to  promulgate  a  law,  to  which  they  claim  the 
submission  due  only  to  the  voice  of  God.  Hence  the  charge  of  usurp- 
ing a  dispensing  power  is  most  preposterous,  since  it  is  incapable  of 
being  sustained  for  a  moment,  until  it  is  demonstrated  that  the  law  is 
in  their  favour ;  and  when  this  is  accomplished,  we  pledge  ourselves  to 
relinquish  our  practice  immediately ;  but  till  it  is,  to  assume  it  as  a 
medium  of  proof  is  a  palpab'e  peiiY/o  pn'rac/piY, — it  is  begging  the  ques 
tio«  in  debate. 


438  KEPLY  TD  in:v.  .lOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Wo  repeat  au::un,  Avhat  was  observed  in  tlie  former  treatise,  that  this 
chiirgc  owes  its  plausibility  entirely  to  the  equivocal  use  of  terms.  As 
A'e  do  not  insist  upon  baptism  as  a  term  of  communion,  we  may  be 
said,  quoad  hoc,  or  so  far,  to  dispense  with  it ;  just  as  our  opponents 
uiav  be  said  to  dispense  with  that  particular  opinion,  the  doctrine  of 
election,  for  example,  which,  while  tliey  firmly  adhere  to  it  themselves, 
thev  refrain  from  attempting  to  force  on  the  consciences  of  others ;  on 
which  occasion,  a  rigid  Calvinist  might,  with  the  same  propriety,  ex- 
claim that  they  are  guilty  of  dispensing  with  the  truth  of  God. 

So  remote  is  our  practice  from  implying  the  claim  of  superiority  to 
law,  that  it  is,  hi  our  view,  the  necessary  result  of  obedience  to  that 
comprehensive  precept,  "  Receive  ye  one  another,  even  as  Clirist  has 
received  you  to  the  glory  of  the  Father."  If  the  practice  of  toleration 
is  admitted  at  all,  it  must  have  for  its  object  some  supposed  deviation 
from  truth,  or  failure  of  duty  ;  and  as  there  is  no  transgression  where 
there  is  no  law,  and  every  such  deviation  must  be  opposed  to  a  rule  of 
action,  if  the  forbearance  exercised  towards  it  is  assuming  a  dispensing 
power,  the  accusation  equally  lies  against  all  parties,  except  such  as 
insist  upon  an  absolute  uniformity.  In  every  instance,  he  who  declines 
insisting  on  an  absolute  rectitude  of  opinion  or  practice  as  the  term  of 
union  is  liable  to  the  same  charge  as  is  adduced  against  the  indulgence 
for  which  we  are  pleading.  If  the  precise  view  which  each  individual 
entertains  of  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice  is  to  be  enforced  on  every 
member  as  the  condition  of  fellowship,  the  duty  of  "  forbearing  with 
each  other"  is  annihilated :  but  if  something  short  of  this  is  insisted 
on,  what  is  wanting  to  come  up  to  the  perfection  of  the  rule  is,  in  the 
sense  of  our  opponents,  dispensed  with.  Behold,  then,  the  dispensing 
power  rises  in  all  its  terrors ;  nor  will  it  be  possible  to  form  a  concep- 
tion of  an  act  of  toleration  where  it  is  not  included.  Such  is  the  inevi- 
table consequence,  if  the  charge  is  attached  simply  to  our  not  insistmg 
upon  what  we  esteem  a  revealed  duty ;  but  if  it  is  sustained  on  the 
ground  of  the  necessary  dependence  of  one  Christian  rite  upon  another, 
it  is  plainly  preposterous,  since  this  is  the  very  position  we  deny ;  it 
forms  the  very  gist  of  the  dispute,  the  proof  which  will  at  once  consign 
it  to  oblivion.  The  objection,  in  this  form,,  is  nothing  more  than  an 
enunciation,  in  other  terms,  of  our  actual  practice. 

In  every  controversy,  the  medium  by  which  a  disputed  point  is  at- 
tempted to  be  disproved  should  contain  something  distinct  from  the 
position  itself,  or  no  progress  is  made.  There  may  be  a  show  of 
reasoning,  but  nothing  more.  It  is  also  necessary  that  the  medium  of 
proof,  or  confutation,  should  contain  some  proposition,  about  which 
both  parties  are  agreed.  But  what  is  the  case  here  ?  Our  opponents 
object  that  we  exercise  a  dispensing  power.  How  does  this  appear  1 
Because,  while  we  acknowledge  baptism  to  be  a  duty,  we  do  not  inva- 
riably demand  it  as  a  preliminary  to  church-fellowship.  Now  let  me 
ask,  is  this  statement  any  thing  more  than  a  mere  definition,  or  descrip- 
tion, of  the  practice  which  is  the  subject  of  debate ;  so  that  if  an  in- 
quiry were  made,  what  we  mean  by  open  communion,  in  what  other 
terms  could  the    answer   be  couched?     The  intelligent  reader  will 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORTV.  439 

instantly  perceive,,  that  the  medium  of  proof  involves  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  proposition  to  be  refuted.  Perhaps  they  will  reply,  No ; 
you  are  guilty  of  dispensing  with  the  law,  not  merely  because  baptism 
is  a  duty,  but  because  the  Head  of  the  church  has  made  it  an  indispen- 
sable prerequisite  to  Christian  fellowship.  Here  the  medium  is  indeed 
sufficiently  distinct  from  the  proposition  which  it  is  intended  to  confute, 
but  it  is  so  far  from  being  agreed  upon  between  the  parties,  that  it 
forms  the  very  subject  of  debate.  In  other  words,  they  take  for  granted 
the  very  position  on  which  the  controversy  turns,  and  then  convert  their 
arbitrary  assumption  into  an  argument.  Thus,  in  whatever  light  it  is 
viewed,  the  odious  imputation  M'ith  which  they  attempt  to  load  us  falls 
to  the  ground ;  and  merely  shows  with  what  facility  they  can  dispense 
with  the  rules  of  logic. 

Near  akin  to  this  is  the  charge  of  "  sanctioning"  a  corruption  of  a 
.Christian  ordinance.  But  how  the  mere  act  of  communion  with  a 
Christian  brother,  whose  practice  we  judge  to  be  erroneous  in  a  certain 
particular,  can  be  justly  considered  as  conferring  a  sanction  on  his 
error,  is  not  a  little  mysterious.  If  this  is  a  fair  construction,  it  must 
proceed  upon  the  general  principle  that  communion  sanctions  all  the 
imperfections,  speculative  and  practical,  of  the  members  whom  it  in- 
cludes ;  and  thus  our  opponents  must  be  understood  to  approve  all  the 
perverse  tempers  and  erroneous  views  of  the  individuals  whom  they 
receive  into  fellowship.  Will  they  abide  by  this  consequence  1  But 
how  is  it  possible  to  escape  it,  if  to  tolerate  and  to  sanction,  to  forbear 
and  to  approve,  are  the  same  thing?  Will  they  assert  that  St.  Paul 
was  prepared  to  exclude  the  members  of  the  church  at  Corinth,  against 
whose  irregularities  he  so  warmly  protested ;  or  affirm,  that  by  de- 
clining such  a  step,  he  sanctioned  the  schisms  and  tumults,  the  back- 
bitings,  whisperings,  and  swellings,  which  he  reproved  with  so  much 
severity  ?  The  idea  is  too  ridiculous  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment, 
but  not  more  than  the  present  allegation. 

Were  an  impartial  spectator  to  witness  the  celebration  of  the  sacra- 
ment by  persons  of  different  denominations,  what  would  he  infer? 
That  they  considered  each  other  as  beings  "  without  fault  before  God," 
with  nothing  in  their  sentiments  liable  to  correction,  or  in  their  charac- 
ters susceptible  of  improvement  ?  No  ;  the  only  conclusion  which  he 
could  consistently  draw  would  be,  that  they  looked  upon  each  other  as 
pardoned  sinners,  washed  in  the  same  fountain,  sanctified,  though  im- 
perfectly, by  the  same  Spirit,  and  fellow-travellers  to  the  same  celes- 
tial city. 

We  must  either  seek  a  church  such  as  is  not  to  be  found  upon 
earth,  or  be  content  to  associate  with  men  compassed  with  infirmities ; 
prepared  to  exercise  towards  others  the  forbearance  and  indulgence 
which  we  need,  and  to  exhibit  on  every  occasion  the  humility  becoming 
those  who  are  conscious  that  in  "  many  things  we  all  offend." 

Besides,  as  our  author  acknowledges  that  baptism  is  not  to  be 
*'  compared  in  importance  with  the  least  of  Christ's  moral  precepts," 
against  which  men  of  unquestionable  piety  are  perpetually  offending, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent     where  is  tlie  consistency  of  being  more 


410  Ki;riA'  TO  RE\.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

solicitous   to   avoid   the   appearance   of  sanctioning  ceremonia..    than 
moral  ilisobeclicncc  I 

The  Ibllowiiiii  sentiment,  marketl  in  italics,  and  delivered  with  the 
solcmniiv  of  an  oracle,  is  characterized  by  the  same  spirit  of  extrava- 
gance. "  The  supposition  itself,"  our  author  says,  "  that  toleration  and 
forbearance  will  justify  us  in  allowing  an  omission  of  any  law  of  Christ 
in  his  church,  operates  as  a  repeal  of  that  laws  and  would  generally  be 
deemed  unreasonable."*  As  all  duty  bears  respect  to  a  law,  it  is  im- 
possible to  conceive  of  its  omission  without  supposing  an  equal  omis- 
sion of  the  law. 

He  illustrates  his  assertion  by  referring  to  the  legal  qualification,  in 
landed  property,  required  in  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  parliament ; 
where  it  is  evident,  that  to  render  the  cases  parallel  it  must  be  as- 
sumed that  baptism  is,  by  the  appointment  of  the  Head  of  the  church, 
the  necessary  qualification  for  the  rights  of  fellowship,  which  is  the 
very  point  in  debate ;  so  tliat  we  have  here  another  instance  of  that 
habit  of  begging  the  question  with  which  he  is  so  familiar.  On  what 
occasion  has  he  found  us  concede  w^hat  is  taken  for  granted  in  this 
illustration ;  or  who  would  be  so  absurd,  after  such  a  concession,  as 
to  pursue  the  argument  any  further? 

The  proposition  itself  is  as  untenable  as  its  illustration  is  irrelevant. 
If  every  rule  of  action  is  repealed,  the  moment  its  omission,  whether 
partial  or  total,  whether  occasional  or  habitual,  whether  intentional  or 
unintentional,  is  the  object  of  forbearance,  a  repeal  is  the  necessary 
concomitant  of  every  conceivable  instance  of  toleration.  For  say,  on 
supposition,  the  will  of  Christ  were  perfectly  complied  with  in  doctrine 
and  in  practice,  Avhat  possible  room  would  there  be  for  mutual  forbear- 
ance t  What,  to  speak  of  forbearance  when  all  is  right !  Is  perfection 
then  the  object  of  toleration  1  But  just  in  proportion  as  imperfection 
exists,  some  law,  some  rule  of  conduct,  must  be  neglected  ;  "  for  where 
there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgression."  Will  it  be  affirmed,  that 
when  St.  Paul  censured  with  so  much  severity  the  swellings,  the 
tumults,  the  whisperings,  and  the  backbitings  which  prevailed  in  the 
church  of  Corinth,  who  were  ready  to  devour  each  other ;  when  he 
found  it  necessary  to  remind  them  that  the  unjust  should  not  inherit 
the  kingdom  of  God,  did  he  after  all  perceive  in  them  no  omission  of  a 
law  of  Christ  ?  This  surely  none  will  affirm  ;  and  as  he  still  continued 
to  exercise  forbearance,  without  the  slightest  intimation  of  an  intention 
to  exclude  them,  he  was  guilty,  on  Mr.  Kinghorn's  principles,  of  re 
pealing  the  commands  of  God.  As  the  evils  tolerated  were  of  a  moral 
nature,-  and  he  tells  us  that  he  is  far  from  "  equalizing  baptism  with  the 
least  of  Christ's  moral  precepts;"  if,  in  spite  of  his  own  concession,  he 
now  assigns  it  a  superiority,  what  is  this  but  a  palpable  contradiction  t 
But  to  say  that  a  mistake  respecting  the  nature  of  a  Christian  orcinance 
IS  not  to  be  borne  with  in  religious  society,  while  evils  of  a  moral  kind 
are  and  must  be  tolerated,  is  to  mark  its  pre-eminence  in  a  manner  the 
most  unequivocal. 

The  mistakes  into  which  he  has  fallen  in  this  short  passage  are  so 

*  Baptism  a  Term  af  Ccrvit  it. yf.n,  p.  53. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  441 

gross  and  so  many,  that  they  deserve  a  distinct  enumeration.  First, 
By  affirming  that  to  endure,  under  any  circumstances,  the  omission  of 
a  rule  of  action  is  to  repeal  it,  he  has  reduced  the  very  conception 
of  toleration  to  an  impossibility.  Secondly,  As  there  can  be  no  moral 
imperfection  but  what  involves  at  least  an  occasional  omission  of  a 
moral  precept,  the  least  of  which  he  affirms  is  of  greater  moment  than 
baptism  ;  he  must  either  contend  for  the  propriety  of  setting  aside 
forbearance  altogether,  or  must  be  understood  to  select  for  its  object 
the  greater,  in  preference  to  the  least,  of  two  evils.  Thirdly,  In  assum- 
ing it  for  granted  that  there  is  a  law  in  existence  which  universally 
prohibits  the  unbaptized  from  communion,  he  assumes  tlie  whole  ques- 
tion in  debate ;  and  if  no  such  rule  is  admitted,  how  is  it  possible  we 
should  be  guilty  of  repealing  it.  Fourthly,  In  stigmatizing  the  practice 
of  not  invariably  insisting  on  a  compliance  with  primitive  baptism,  in 
order  to  fellowship,  as  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  precept  which  enjoins  it, 
while  we  inculcate  it  as  a  divine  command,  and  testify  our  disapproba 
tion  of  its  neglect,  is  a  strange  abuse  of  terms,  founded  on  the  following 
principle  ;  that  whatever  is  not  absolutely  and  invariably  required  as  a 
termof  communion,  is  virtually  repealed  ;  whence  it  necessarily  follows, 
that  the  whole  of  that  duty  in  which  the  church  of  Corinth  was  de- 
fective, that  whole  portion  of  the  mind  of  Christ  which  they  failed  to 
exemplify,  was  considered  by  St.  Paul  as  no  longer  binding,  since, 
however  it  might  excite  his  concern,  and  draw  forth  his  rebuke,  the  want 
of  it,  it  is  evident,  did  not  prevent  his  forbearance.  Will  he  abide  by 
this  inference  ?  If  he  declines  it,  let  him  show,  if  he  is  able,  why  it  is 
less  applicable  to  the  conduct  of  St.  Paul  than  to  ours  ? 

That  we  do  not  repeal  the  ordinance  by  which  our  denomination 
IS  distinguished,  considered  as  a  duty,  is  a  fact,  of  which  we  give  ocular 
demonstration  as  often  as  it  is  celebrated.  True,  say  our  opponents, 
but  you  repeal  it  as  a  necessary  preliminary  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  To 
which  the  answer  is  obvious  :  First  prove  that  it  is  so,  and  then,  should 
we  continue  obstinate,  load  us  as  much  as  you  please  with  the  oppro- 
brium of  abrogating  a  divine  comtnand.  But  cease  to  run  round  this 
miserable  circle,  of  first  assuming  the  existence  of  a  law  confining 
communion  within  certain  limits,  then  accusing  us  of  repealing  it,  and 
lastly  of  finding  us  guilty  of  transgressing  the  prescribed  bounds,  on 
the  ground  of  that  repeal.  He  who  repeals  a  rule  of  action  reduces 
the  system  of  duty  to  exactly  the  same  state  as  though  it  had  never 
existed.  Whenever  we  are  convicted  of  doing  this,  whenever  we  teach 
the  nullity  of  baptism,  or  inculcate  a  habit  of  indifference  respecting 
either  the  mode  or  the  subject  of  that  ordinance,  we  will  bow  to  the 
justice  of  the  charge  ;  but  till  then,  we  feel  justified  in  treating  it  with 
the  neglect  due  to  an  attempt  to  convince  without  logic,  and  to  criminate 
without  guilt. 

The  irptSrov  il/cufof,  the  radical  fallacy  of  the  whole  proceeding,  con- 
sists in  confounding  an  interpretation  of  the  law,  however  just,  with 
the  law  itself ;  in  affirming  of  the  first  whatever  is  true  of  the  last ; 
and  of  subverting,  under  that  pretext,  the  right  of  private  judgment. 

The  interpretation  of  a  rule  is,  to  him  who  adopts  it,  equally  binding 


442  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

^vitIl  the  nile  itsi-lf,  because  every  one  must  act  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility ;  l)ul  he  has  no  autliority  whatever  to  bind  it  on  the  conscience 
of  his  brother,  and  to  treat  him  who  receives  it  not  as  though  he  were 
at  direct  issue  witli  the  k^gishitor.  It  is  tliis  presumptuous  chxim  of 
infaUibihty,  this  assumption  of  the  prerogative  of  Clirist,  this  disposition 
to  identily  ourselves  with  him,  and  to  place  our  conclusions  on  a  footing 
with  his  mandates,  that  is  the  secret  spring  of  all  that  intolerance  which 
has  so  long  bewitciied  the  world  with  her  sorceries,  from  the  elevation 
of  papal  Kome,  where  she  thunders  and  lightens  from  the  Vatican, 
do\m  to  Baptist  societies,  where  "  she  whispers  feebly  from  the  dust." 

This  writer  has,  with  the  best  intentions  I  doubt  not,  dragged  from 
Its  obscurity  a  principle  whose  thorough  application  and  development 
would  doom,  not  our  societies  alone,  but  every  church  in  the  universe, 
to  a  confusion  of  minds  and  of  tongues,  a  state  of  discord  and  anarchy, 
the  healing  of  which  would  soon  find  him  other  employ  than  that  of 
attempting  to  defend  the  petty  and  repulsive  peculiarity  to  which  he  has 
devoted  his  labours. 

Before  I  close  this  chapter,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  in  order  to  obviate 
misconception,  that  nothing  is  more  remote  from  my  intention  than  to 
plead  for  a  wilful  omission  of  any  part  of  the  will  of  Christ.  His 
honour,  I  trust,  is  as  dear,  his  prerogative  as  sacred,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
advocates  of  Christian.,  as  it  is  in  those  of  sectarian  communion. 
Let  each,  in  the  regulation  of  his  own  conduct,  pay  the  most  scrupulous 
attention  to  his  orders ;  and  wherever  he  distinctly  perceives  that  a 
professor  of  religion  indulges  himself  in  a  known  and  habitual  violation 
of  them,  let  him,  after  seasonable  and  repeated  admonition,  "  withdraw 
from  the  brother  that  walketh  disorderly."  But  let  him  not  presume  to 
control  the  sentiments  and  conduct  of  others  by  his  standard,  and  treat 
as  an  enemy  or  an  alien  that  humble  follower  of  Christ  who  is  as 
sincerely  devoted  to  His  will  as  himself;  and  who,  however  he  may 
mistake  it  in  some  particulars,  would  shudder  at  the  thought  of  setting 
voluntary  bounds  to  obedience.  If  to  tolerate  such  must  subject  us  to 
the  reproach  of  repealing  the  law  of  Christ,  let  us  remember  we  are 
not  the  first  who  have  been  condemned  for  undervaluing  the  ritual  part 
of  religion,  and  for  preferring  mercy  to  sacrifice.  As  "  we  must  all 
appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,"  we  await  with  much  com- 
posure and  confidence  his  decision ;  without  indulging  the  smallest 
apprehension  that  we  shall  meet  with  less  compassion  for  having  shown 
it,  or  that  we  shall  incur  his  displeasure  for  refusing  to  "beat  our 
fellow-servants." 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  445 


CHAPTER  V. 

An  Inquiry  how  far  the  Practice  of  mixed  Communion  affects  the 
Grounds  of  Dissent  from  the  Church  of  England,  and  from  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

Mr.  Kingiiorn  expresses  his  surprise  that  the  champions  of  the 
hierarchy  have  neglected  in  their  controversy  with  dissenters  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  practice  of  strict  communion.  For  my  part,  I  am  only 
surprised  at  his  surprise.  For  supposing  (what  is  most  contrary  to 
fact)  that  it  had  furnished  them  with  some  advantage  against  a  part 
of  the  Baptists,  what  mighty  triumph  would  it  be  to  have  proved,  that 
a  branch  only  of  a  denomination,  by  no  means  considerable  in  their 
eyes,  had  been  betrayed  into  an  inconsistency?  The  abetters  of  a 
splendid  hierarchy  were  little  likely  to  descend  to  a  petty  altercation 
with  the  members  of  one  division  of  dissent,  respecting  a  point  which 
could  merely  supply  an  argumentum  ad  hominem,  and  about  which  their 
opponents  are  far  from  being  agreed. 

To  us,  however,  it  is  of  importance  to  consider  whether  the  doctrine 
we  have  attempted  to  establish  is  justly  chargeable  with  infringing  on 
the  legitimate  principles  of  dissent.  With  this  view,  we  shall  briefly 
examme  the  substance  of  our  author's  arguments  on  this  subject. 

We  are  accused  of  inconsistency  in  arraigning  the  Church  of  England 
"  for  introducing  rites  and  ceremonies  which  have  indeed  no  scriptural 
authority,  but  which  are  pleaded  for,  merely  as  decent  and  venerable 
customs :  while  we  ourselves  tolerate  in  the  church  the  neglect  of  an 
institution  which  we  are  convinced  was  universally  obeyed  in  the 
apostolic  times,  and  which  was  appointed  by  the  highest  authority."* 
To  this  we  reply  that  the  cases  are  not  parallel ;  that  they  differ  in  the 
most  essential  particulars. 

It  is  one  thing  to  tolerate,  and  another  to  practise.  The  law  of  God 
invariably  and  absolutely  forbids  the  latter  ;  that  is,  it  uniformly  prohibits 
the  performance  of  a  single  action  which  we  esteem  contrary  to  his  will, 
but  to  say  it  in  all  cases  forbids  the  former  is  to  insist  on  an  absolute 
agreement  respecting  every  branch  of  practice.  The  objection  is 
brought  against  us,  who  neither  practise  nor  sanction  infant  baptism, 
that  we  are  chargeable  with  the  same  criminality  which  is  supposed  to 
attach  to  the  introducers  of  human  rites  and  ceremonies  in  religion, — 
ceremonies  which  they  unquestionably  both  practise  and  approve. 
The  argument  of  the  writer,  reduced  to  the  form  of  a  syllogism,  is  as 
follows : — 

To  practise  human  rites  and  ceremonies  in  the  worship  of  God  is 
sinful ; 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  123. 


444  lvi:i'l-       10  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

But  the  advoiMtos  of  mixed  comiminioii  siiflor  to  remain  in  the  church 
persons  wlio  praetise  a  certain  ceremony  of  human  mveution; 
Therefore  their  conduct  is  sinful. 

Who  does  not  perceive  that  tlie  second  proposition  has  no  necessary 
connexion  with  the  first,  and  that  the  argument  is  consequently  invahd  ? 
In  order  to  establish  his  conclusion,  it  behooved  the  author  to  prove  that 
we  practise  and  approve  infant  baptism,  which  he  knows  to  be  impos- 
sible. If  Pedobaptists  required  our  concurrence  in  what  we  esteem  an 
erroneous  practice, — nay,  if  they  refused  us  the  liberty  of  protesting 
against  it,  there  would  be  an  analogy  between  the  two  cases  ;  as  it  is, 
there  is  none. 

We  are  bound  by  an  express  law  to  tolerate  in  the  church  those 
whom  Christ  has  received ;  and  he  has,  by  the  acknowledgment  even 
of  our  opponents,  received  the  Pedobaptists.  The  first  of  these  posi- 
tions we  feel  ourselves  justified  in  affirming  till  it  be  disproved  ;  which 
this  writer  is  so  far  from  having  done,  that  no  attempt,  we  shall  plainly 
make  appear,  was  ever  more  unsuccessful.  But  whether  it  be  true  or 
not  that  we  are  commanded  to  act  thus,  such  is  our  opinion ;  and  with 
this  persuasion,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  act  in  a  different  manner.  But 
will  such  as  prescribe  human  rites  and  ceremonies  pretend  to  act  under 
a  similar  conviction, — a  conviction  that  they  are  bound  by  the  law  of 
Christ  to  use  the  cross  in  baptism,  to  bow  to  the  east,  to  kneel  at  the 
sacrament,  and  to  exact  as  a  term  of  communion  a  compliance  witli 
these  and  other  ceremonies,  judged  by  themselves  indifferent,  and  by 
us  sinful?  The  most  zealous  champions  of  the  hierarchy  make  no 
such  pretension,  and  we  may  therefore  very  consistently  censure  them 
for  enforcing,  under  such  a  penalty,  the  observation  of  rites  for  which 
no  divine  precept  is  urged,  while  we  tolerate  Pedobaptists  in  obedience 
to  a  divine  injunction ;  unless  it  be  the  same  thing  to  practise  in  the 
worship  of  God  what  it  is  allowed  he  has  not  commanded,  and  to 
comply  -with  an  express  prescription.  If  the  members  of  the  establish- 
ment inquire.  On  w-hat  ground  do  you  receive  a  Pedobaptist?  we  re- 
ply. Because  we  are  expressly  commanded  to  receive  him.  But  if  we 
inquire  in  our  turn.  Why  do  you  kneel  at  the  sacrament,  and  exact  that 
posture  of  all  your  communicants  ? — is  it  affirmed  that  they  will  reply  in 
the  same  manner  1  It  is  not  true,  then,  that  mixed  communion  stands 
upon  the  same  ground  with  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of 
England ;  consequently,  whatever  be  its  merits  or  demerits  in  other 
respects,  it  may  be  maintained  in  perfect  consistence  with  the  principle 
of  dissent. 

To  the  objection  that  it  was  as  much  unknown  in  the  apostolic  age 
as  the  ceremonies  in  question,  we  have  already  replied,  that  at  that 
period  it  was  impossible  there  should  be  any  controversy  on  the  sub- 
ject of  baptism,  which  was  so  recently  instituted  and  so  fully  exempli- 
fied in  the  conduct  of  the  apostles  ;  but  that  now,  when  a  question  has 
arisen,  what  is  baptism,  a  new  case  occurs,  in  the  determination  of 
which  we  must  be  guided  by  the  precepts  respecting  mutual  forbear- 
ance.    To  this  the  author  replies,  in  behalf  of  the  churchman,  "  Very 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  445 

well ;  and  when  tjie  emperors  and  kings  of  former  days  were  converted 
to  the  Christian  faith,  and  were  desirous  of  sanctioning  the  gospel  by 
their  character,  their  property,  and  their  influence,  another  new  case 
occurred,  of  which  apostolic  times  knew  nothing.  When  nations  be- 
came generally  Christian,  other  new  cases  arose  out  of  the  new  events 
of  the  time."*  To  this  I  answer.  It  is  very  possible,  undoubtedly,  for 
a  churchman  to  utter  the  same  words,  and  say  a  neiv  case  has  arisen ; 
but  imless  he  can  say  it  with  the  same  truth,  it  will  be  nothing  to  the 
purpose.  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  assert  what  is  true, 
merely  because  a  false  assertion  respecting  another  subject  may  be 
couched  in  the  same  words.  Is  it  true,  or  is  it  not,  that  a  refusal  to 
comply  with  a  precept,  knowing  it  to  be  a  command  of  Christ,  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  a  mere  misconception  of  the  nature  and  import  of 
that  command  ?  if  it  be,  will  it  be  asserted  that  such  as  had  refused  to 
make  a  profession  of  his  religion,  in  the  way  which  they  were  conscious 
\ie  had  appointed,  would  have  been  just  as  excusable  as  the  most  candid 
and  impartial  of  modern  Pedobaptists  1  Unless  he  will  assert  this,  the 
author  must  acknowledge  that  here  is  a  new  case,  and  that  the  question 
how  we  should  treat  the  wilful  contemner  of  legitimate  authority  and  the 
erroneous  interpreter  of  Scripture  involves  separate  inquiries.  From 
a  multitude  of  passages,  it  is  manifest  that  he  himself  forms  a  very 
different  opinion  of  the  present  Pedobaptists  from  what  he  would  enter- 
tain of  such  as  knowingly  and  deliberately  resisted  a  positive  com- 
mand. He  professes  to  give  them  entire  credit  for  their  sincerity,  and 
to  entertain  a  firm  persuasion  of  their  ready  admission  into  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven  ;  which  would  be  absurd  on  the  latter  supposition.  In 
maintaining  a  different  conduct  towards  two  descriptions  of  persons, 
between  which  there  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  total  diversity  of  char- 
acter, we  are  perfectly  consistent ;  unless  it  be  asserted  that  judgment 
ought  to  have  no  influence  on  conduct,  nor  action  be  controlled  by 
principle. 
'  Let  the  impartial  reader  judge  for  himself  whether  it  is  possible,  by 
any  fair  mode  of  argument,  to  infer  from  these  premises  the  lawfulness 
of  making  the  conversion  of  kings  to  Christianity  a  pretext  for  placing 
them  at  the  head  of  the  church,  or  of  acknowledging  their  right  to  model 
the  worship  of  God  at  their  pleasure.  Yet  this  is  asserted,  and  these 
portentous  consequences  are  said  necessarily  to  flow  from  our  prin- 
ciples. It  is  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  what  kind  of  syllogism  will 
fairly  connect  the  two  following  propositions.  It  is  lawful  to  admit  a 
pious  Pedobaptist  to  communion,  because  we  are  commanded  to  receive 
buch  as  Christ  has  received.  Therefore,  it  is  lawful  to  acknowledge  a 
pious  prince  as  head  of  the  church,  and  to  allow  him  to  model  its  worship 
as  he  pleases.  We  quoted  a  scriptural  precept  for  the  former :  will  Mr. 
Kinghorn  favour  us  with  something  equivalent  for  the  latter ;  or  Avill  he 
remind  us  of  the  passages  which  assert  Christ  to  be  the  "  Head  over 
all  things  to  the  church,"  or  those  which  command  us  to  "  call  no  man 
master  upon  earth  ?"     His  reasoning  in  this,  as  in  the  former  instance, 

♦  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  124. 


UG  REl'LY  TO  KKV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORIN. 

s  cloguoil  with  u  twofold  absurdity:  first,  he  confounds  toleration  with 
coiicurreui-e ;  for  they  who  contend  for  the  right  of  ii  king  lo  be  head, 
I  presume,  ac/inoa-lcdgc  him  as  such :  secondly,  because  we  may  inno- 
cently do  what  is  commanded,  or  rather  are  not  permitted  to  do  the 
contrary,  he  with  great  simplicity  infers  we  may  lawfully  venture  on 
what  is  forbidden. 

The  same  reasoning  applies  to  the  introduction  of  ceremonies,  and 
completely  invalidates  his  conclusion,  that  because  we  tolerate  infant 
baptism,  which  we  consider  as  a  human  invention,  we  cannot  consis- 
tently depart  from  the  established  church  on  account  of  the  introduction 
of  rites  which  we  deem  superstitious.  He  represents  a  churchman  as 
addressing  us  in  the  following  manner: — "Is  not  forbearance  to  be 
granted  to  us  also  in  what  M^e  deem  right  and  expedient  ?  Suppose 
that  we  are  weak  brethren,  as  weak  as  you  choose  to  represent  us, — 
why  should  you  not,  even  in  pity  to  our  weakness,  tolerate  us  in  adding 
a  few  things  to  the  original  institutions  of  the  Lord,  rather  than  leave 
us,  and  by  schism  rend  the  seamless  garment  of  Christ  1"*  In  reply 
to  this,  let  me  ask.  Is  the  toleration  of  objectionable  ceremonies  suffi 
cient  to  constitute  a  churchman  ?  or  are  we  invited  to  be  mere  spectators 
of  these  observances,  without  joining  in  them  ?  But  do  the  Pedobap- 
tists,  when  they  propose  to  commune  with  us,  expect  us  to  join  with 
them  in  their  practice  of  infant  baptism  1  How  futile  then  is  it  to  con- 
clude, that  because  w^e  are  not  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come,  w^e  must 
on  no  occasion  bear  with  the  imperfections  we  cannot  remedy. 

He  largely  insists  on  the  superiority  of  his  system  to  ours,  on  account 
of  its  being  at  a  greater  remove  from  the  principles  of  the  established 
church.  "  The  strict  Baptist,"  he  observ^es,  "  can  set  the  churchman 
at  defiance,  while  he  tells  him  respectfully  but  plainly  that  his  church 
is  wrong  in  its  very  constitution  ;  that  it  is  formed  of  materials  different 
from  those  used  by  the  Saviour,  and  that  these  materials  are  united 
together  in  a  way  totally  diverse  from  that  of  his  institution."! 

Had  he  succeeded  in  showing  that  his  practice  is  alone  consistent 
with  the  principles  of  dissent,  his  argument  would  have  been  to  the 
purpose.  But  to  foimd  a  claim  to  preference  merely  on  a  wider  devia- 
tion from  the  established  church  is  to  take  for  granted  what  is  palpably 
false,  that  the  established  church,  like  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  is  a 
mere  mass  of  corruption  and  error,  from  which  the  farther  we  recede 
we  necessarily  approach  nearer  to  rectitude.  That  it  comprehends 
many  abuses  we  sufficiently  attest  our  conviction  by  our  dissent ;  but 
as  it  contains  a  mixture  of  good  and  evil,  if  w^e  sufler  ourselves  to  look 
with  a  more  favourable  eye  upon  a  doctrine  merely  because  its  admis- 
sion will  remove  us  farther  from  the  establishment,  we  may  fall,  ere  we 
are  aware,  into  the  gulf  of  perdition.  Upon  this  principle,  we  may 
embrace  socinianism ;  for  socinians  are,  unquestionably,  farther  re- 
moved from  the  church  than  orthodox  dissenters.  We  may  embrace 
popery,  since  all  good  Catholics  consider  the  Church  of  England  as 
being  in  a  damnable  state.     We  always  supposed  it  was  the  agreement 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  125.  t  Ibid.  p.  127 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  447 

ot  a  doctrine  witli  the  Scriptures,  not  its  disagreement  with  any  human 
6,ystem,  which  formed  its  true  recommendation ;  and  that  to  consult 
our  antipathies  in  the  choice  of  a  rehgion  was  equally  unchristian  and 
unsafe. 

Besides,  the  objection  which  he  makes  to  the  constitution  of  the 
established  church  is  as  consistent  with  our  principles  as  with  his. 
Where  a  societ)^  embraces  a  whole  nation,  and  recognises  as  her  mem- 
bers all  who  are  born  within  certain  geographical  limits,  many  who  are 
openly  wicked  must  necessarily  be  included  ;  and  the  materials  of  which 
it  is  composed  essentially  different  from  those  which  formed  the  primi- 
tive church,  which  consisted  of  such  as  were  "  called,  and  chosen,  and 
faithful."  Of  such  an  assemblage  it  is  not  too  much  to  say,  in  the 
words  of  this  writer,  "  that  the  whole  body,  taken  in  the  aggregate,  are 
of  a  different  character  from  that  which  is  in  the  New  Testament  called 
a  church  of  Christ  :"*  and  as  this  reason  for  dissent,  deduced  from  the 
indiscriminate  mixture  of  good  and  bad,  is  not  weakened  or  impaired 
by  the  practice  of  open  communion,  we  are  as  much  entitled  as  he  is 
to  all  the  advantage  it  affords. 

But  when  we  are  accused  of  using  different  materials  in  the  erection 
from  those  which  were  originally  admitted  into  the  fabric,  because  we 
admit  some  who,  in  our  judgment,  are  not  baptized,  we  deny  the  charge, 
and  acknowledge  ourselves  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  living  stones, 
built  on  the  only  true  foundation,  can  essentially  differ  from  eacli  other  on 
account  of  a  transient  ceremony ;  unless  it  is  affirmed,  that  sanctifying 
grace  is  a  less  powerful  principle  of  attraction  and  assimilation  than  an 
external  circumstance,  and  that  Simon  Magus  bore  more  resemblance 
to  the  primitive  Christians  than  Richard  Baxter.  We  are  at  an  equal 
loss  to  discover  how  a  ceremony  can  impress  a  character.  That  immer- 
sion leaves  no  permanent  corporeal  mark  our  senses  assure  us  :  is  tiiis 
character  then  impressed  on  tlie  understanding,  on  the  heart,  or  the 
imagination  ?  For  the  idea  of  a  character  which  modifies  and  changes 
nothing  is  as  unintelligible  to  me  as  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 

What  the  writer  means  by  appropriating  to  himself  and  his  brethren 
the  exclusive  right  of  setting  a  churchman  at  defiance  is  equally  mys- 
terious, especially  as  clogged  with  this  condition,  "  as  long  as  he  can 
estabhsh  his  propositions  by  sufficient  proof."  A  wonderful  prerogative 
indeed !  By  setting  him  at  defiance,  he  intends  that  he  is  secure  of 
confuting  his  arguments,  which  it  seems  he  is  able  to  effect  so  long  as 
he  can  establish  the  opposite  propositions  by  sufficient  proof.  What  is 
this  more  than  affirming  that  he  is  certain  of  being  able  to  prove  what 
he  can  prove  1  and  as  the  churchman  can  certainly  do  the  same,  they 
may  each  enjoy,  upon  this  principle,  the  pleasure  of  mutual  defiance 
and  mutual  triumph. 

He  either  insults  the  understanding  of  his  readers  by  the  enunciation 
of  a  truism,  or  he  means  to  assert  that  the  practice  he  has  undertaken 
to  defend  is  so  identified  with  the  principles  of  dissent,  that  it  is  inca- 
pable of  being  maintained  without  it.     The  falsehood  of  this  assump- 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  127. 


448  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

tion  has  been  siiflicicmly  cviiu-cd  already ;  in  addition  to  whicli,  the 
reader  is  riHjiiostod  to  rclloft  on  the  extreme  imprudence  of  attempting 
to  rest  a  controversy  of  such  nuignitude  on  so  precarious  a  basis,  and 
to  divide  and  distract  a  common  cause  by  encumbering  it  with  the 
debate  on  baptism  and  the  verbal  subtleties  of  strict  communion.  To 
such  a  mode  of  defence,  the  churchman  might  justly  reply,  Physician, 
heal  thyself:  convince  your  own  denomination  of  the  correctness  of 
your  reasoning,  before  you  presume  to  trouble  us  with  the  mysteries  of 
your  cabala. 

JNIr.  Kingliorn,  in  his  zeal  for  baptism,  intimates  his  conviction  that 
tlie  admission  of  infants  to  that  ordinance  will  at  once  legitimate  the 
constitution  of  the  established  church,  and  render  a  secession  from  it 
indispensable.  He  quotes,  with  apparent  approbation,  a  long  passage 
from  Bishop  Hall,  intended  to  show,  that  if  the  baptism  of  the  church 
is  valid,  its  constitution  must  be  so  also,  which  he  prefaces  by  applaud- 
ing that  prelate's  discernment,  in  seeing  clearly  their  intimate  connexion. 
"All  your  rabbins,"  says  the  bishop,  "cannot  answer  the  charge  of 
your  rebaptized  brother.  If  we  be  a  true  church,  you  must  return  ;  if 
we  be  not  (as  a  false  church  is  no  churcli  of  God),  you  must  rebaptize  ; 
if  our  baptism  be  good,  then  is  our  constitution  good."*  Nothing  can 
be  more  futile  than  this  mode  of  arguing,  which  merely  proves  that  the 
good  bishop,  with  all  his  brilliance  of  genius,  was  but  an  indifferent 
reasoner.  He  thought  himself  justified  in  dissenting  from  the  Church 
of  Rome,  notwithstanding  her  baptism  Avas  ever  esteemed  valid.  By 
the  ancient  church,  through  all  successive  ages  from  the  council  of 
Nice,  the  rebaptization  even  of  heretics  was  condemned  ;  though  heretics 
were  certainly  not  esteemed  a  part  of  the  church.  The  very  society 
of  which  the  bishop  was  a  member  has  always  professed  to  consider 
baptism,  administered  by  every  class  of  dissenters,  in  the  name  of  the 
Trinity,  as  valid ;  so  that,  if  the  reasoning  extolled  by  Mr.  Kinghorn  is 
just,  he  was  guilty  of  schism  in  refusing  to  unite  at  one  and  the  same 
time  with  heretics,  Roman  Catholics,  and  dissenters. 

Not  satisfied  with  asserting  that  our  principles  militate  against  the 
lawfulness  of  dissent,  he  maintains  that  they  are  inconsistent  with  Prot 
estantisra,  and  that,  by  necessary  consequence,  they  convict  Luther 
and  his  associates  of  schism  and  rebellion.  In  the  treatise  on  Tcr7ns 
of  Communion  it  had  been  urged,  that  if  we  believe  our  Pedobaptist 
brethren  to  be  in  a  state  of  salvation,  we  must  acknowledge  tliem  as  a 
part  of  the  true  church,  and  that  to  refuse  them  communion  is  to  create 
a  schism  in  the  body.  Applying  this  reasoning  to  the  case  of  the  Roman 
Catholics,  he  attempts  to  repel  it,  by  remarking  that  if  "  we  have  no 
right  to  refuse  their  communion  with  us,  till  they  conform  to  what  we 
are  convinced  is  the  w'ill  of  Christ,  we  had  no  right  to  leave  them 
because  they  deviated  from  his  will.  The  ground  is  in  both  cases  the 
same.  Once  take  away  the  obligation  of  conforming  to  the  will  of 
Christ,  and  the  Reformation  is  declared  a  mischievous  insurrection,  in 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  122. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  445 

which  all  Protestaijts  are  involved  as  aiding  and  abetting  a  needless  and 
schisaiatical  project."* 

To  this  I  reply,  that  to  suppose  us  to  take  away  the  obligation  of  con- 
formuig  in  our  own  persons  to  the  will  of  Christ  is  to  suppose  us  no 
longer  Cin-istians.  For  to  deny  the  obligation  of  obedience  is  at  once 
to  deny  his  authority,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  formal  renunciation  of 
Christianity.  But  if  he  means  that  we  are  obliged  to  demand  in  others 
a  perfect  compliance  with  his  will,  as  a  term  of  communion,  he  takes 
away  the  possibility  of  toleration  ;  for  we  can  be  said  to  tolerate  nothing 
but  what  we  disapprove,  and  we  can  assign  no  other  reason  for  our  dis- 
approbation besides  its  appartnt  repugnance  to  the  mind  of  Christ.  Flis 
argument,  therefore,  is  entirely  nugatory.  It  is  acknowledged  that  the 
lawftdness  of  admitting  a  Roman  Catholic  to  our  communion,  supposing 
•lim  to  be  a  real  Christian,  is  a  necessary  inference  from  our  principles  ; 
■but  to  conclude  from  thence  that  we  are  obliged  to  adhere  to  Ids  is 
demonstrably  false  and  sophistical ;  nor  is  there  the  ^east  pretence  for 
asserting  tliat  the  "ground  in  both  cases  is  the  same."  Of  two  actions 
which  involve  consequences  infinitely  different,  it  is  impossible  the  ground 
should  be  the  same.  To  receive  a  pious  Roman  Catholic  to  our  com- 
munion nnplies  nothing  more  than  an  acknowledgment  of  his  being  a 
member  of  Christ,  which  is  true  by  the  supposition :  to  commune  with 
him  in  the  rites  pecidiar  to  the  Romish  church  is  to  be  guilty  of  gross 
idolatry  and  superstition,  which,  however  pardonable  it  may  be  in  him, 
whose  conscience  is  uninformed,  in  me,  who  have  no  such  plea,  would 
be  damnable.  Luther  was  necessitated  to  depart  from  the  external 
communion  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  if  he  would  not  partake  in  her  cor- 
ruptions, because  her  communion  formed  a  principal  part  of  those  cor 
ruptions.  Besides,  since  that  church  maintains  the  infallibility  of  all 
her  decisions,  and  whoever  ventures  to  promulgate  a  doubt  respecting 
a  tittle  of  her  doctrine,  is  ipso  facto  excommunicated  till  he  recants, 
when  the  light  of  truth  revealed  to  Lutlier  her  enormities,  it  was  not 
left  to  his  option  to  continue  in  her  society  or  not,  unless  he  would  involve 
himself  in  the  guilt  of  most  horrid  prevarication.  He  never  pretended 
to  depart  from  the  Romish  church  absolutely,  and  in  every  thing,  but  in 
those  particulars  only  in  which  she  had  corrupted  the  doctrine  of  the 
gospel  and  adulterated  the  worship  of  God ;  and,  however  highly  he 
might  estimate  the  advantages  of  unity,  he  could  not  purchase  them  at 
the  expense  of  a  good  conscience,  nor  dare,  by  assenting  to  error,  or 
concui'ring  in  superstition  and  idolatry,  "to  do  evil  that  good  might 
come."  But  if  a  Catholic  of  whose  piety  he  entertained  no  doubt  had 
olfered  himself  for  communion  with  him,  without  recanting  popery  on 
the  one  hand,  or  proposing  to  innovate  in  tlie  worship  of  God  on  the 
other,  on  such  a  supposition,  if  Luther  had  refused  to  receive  him,  his 
conduct  might  have  been  justly  censured.  Now,  I  would  put  it  to  the 
conscience  of  any  impartial  person,  to  determine  whether  Luther  would 
have  had  precisely  the  same  reasons  for  declining  this  act  of  toleration 
as  for  refushig  his  approbation  of  indulgences,  or  his  adoration  of  the 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  aj 

Vol.  L— F  f 


450  Hi:rrA-  to  key.  Joseph  kinghorn. 

mass.  In  exercising  the  forbearance  in  question,  he  would  have  merely 
attested  the  piety  of  the  eomniunicant ;  in  the  other  case,  he  would 
have  directly  countenanced  and  supported  what  he  esteemed  impiety 
and  idohitry.  With  him  who  is  prepared  to  assert  that  each  of  these 
methods  of  proceeding  are  equally  criminal,  it  is  in  vain  to  dispute  ;  but 
if  tliey  arc  not,  the  assertion  that  the  ground  in  both  eases  is  the  same 
i><  undeniably  false. 

Having  detected  thepalpal)le  sophistry  by  which  my  opponent  would 
evince  the  inconsistency  of  our  principles  with  the  cause  of  Protestant- 
ism and  of  dissent,  it  remains  only  for  me  to  remind  him  of  the  facility 
witli  which  the  argument  may  be  retnvt^d,  and  of  the  striking  resem- 
blance between  the  system  of  strict  comnniiiion  and  that  which  is  main- 
tained by  the  churches  of  England  and  of  Rome. 

1.  The  Romish  church,  it  is  well  known,  pretends  to  an  absolute 
infallibility ;  not,  however,  in  such  a  sense  as  implies  an  authority  to 
introduce  new  doctrine,  but  merely  in  the  proposal  of  apostolic  traditions 
and  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  While  she  admits  the  Scripture 
to  be  the  original  rule  of  faith,  she  requires,  under  pain  of  excommuni- 
cation, that  the  sense  she  puts  on  its  words  sliould  be  received  with  the 
same  submission  with  the  inspired  volume.  In  what  respects,  let  me 
ask,  is  the  conduct  of  the  strict  Baptists  different?  A  controversy 
arises  on  the  extent  of  a  positive  rite,  whether  it  should  be  confined  to 
adults,  or  be  communicated  to  infants.  Both  parties  appeal  to  the 
Scripture,  which  the  Baptist  interprets  (in  my  humble  opinion)  correctly, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  restrict  it  to  believers ;  the  Pedobaptist,  with 
equal  sincerity,  supposes  it  to  include  infants.  While  the  former  in  his 
own  practice  confines  it  to  the  description  of  persons  to  whom  he  judges 
it  to  belong,  he  acts  with  unexceptionable  propriety ;  but  wnen,  not 
satisfied  with  this,  he  insists  upon  forcing  his  interpretation  on  the  con- 
science of  his  brother,  and  treats  him  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as 
though  he  avowedly  contradicted  Christ  and  his  apostles,  what  is  this 
but  an  assumption  of  infallibility  1  All  that  infallibility  which  the  Church 
of  Rome  pretends  to  is  the  right  of  placing  her  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture on  a  level  with  the  word  of  God  :  she  professes  to  promulgate  no 
new  revelation,  but  solely  to  render  her  sense  of  it  imperative  and  bind- 
ing :  and  if  we  presume  to  treat  our  fellow-christians,  merely  because 
they  differ  from  us  in  their  construction  of  a  positive  precept,  as  unworthy 
of  being  recognised  as  Christ's  disciples  (the  very  words  of  this  writer), 
and  disqualified  for  the  communion  of  saints, — if  we  allow  them  "  faith," 
while  we  deny  them  "  obedience,"  and  affirm  them  not  to  "  revere  Christ's 
authority,  submit  to  his  ordinances,  or  obey  the  laws  of  his  house,"  we 
defy  all  the  powers  of  discrimination  to  ascertain  the  difference  of  the 
two  cases,  or  to  assign  a  reason  why  we  must  ascribe  the  claim  of 
infallibility  to  one,  and  not  to  the  other. 

On  another  occasion,  Mr.  Kinghorn  observes,*  that  the  strict  Baptists 
show  they  understand  the  distinction  between  judging  for  others  and 
acting  on  their  own  responsibility.     But  in  imposing  their  own  sense 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  67. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  451 

of  Scripture  on  their  brethren,  and  affirming  that  on  account  of  their 
differing  from  them,  they  do  not  "  revere  the  authority  of  Christ,"  is 
either  judging  for  others,  in  every  possible  sense  of  the  words,  or  the 
writer  has  made  an  impossible  supposition.  He  adds,  they  allow  that 
the  Pedobaptists,  on  their  own  principles,  do  right  in  forming  themselves 
into  churches,  and  in  commemorating  the  death  of  their  Lord.  And 
must  they  not  do  equally  right,  on  their  own  principles,  in  baptizing 
infants,  unless  he  will  assert  that  the  propriety  of  baptizing  infants  is 
not  their  principle  1  If  judging  for  others  is  supposed  to  involve  a  claim 
of  infallibility,  and  on  that  account,  and  that  alone,  to  be  shunned,  to 
attempt  to  vindicate  the  practice  of  our  opponents  from  that  inipntation 
will  baffle  the  acutest  intellect. 

2.  We  have  already  observed  the  coincidence  of  our  opponent's 
system  with  the  doctrine  of  the  opus  operatum,  or  the  intrinsic  and 

■  mechanical  efficacy  of  religious  rites,  independent  of  the  intention  and 
disposition  of  the  worshipper.  Tiie  Roman  Catholic  attaches  such 
importance  to  the  rite' of  baptism,  as  to  believe  that  when  duly  admin- 
istered it  is  necessarily  accompanied  with  the  pardon  of  sin,  and 
regenerating  grace.  The  strict  Baptist  maintains  that  its  absence, 
where  all  other  religious  qualifications  are  possessed  in  the  highest 
perfection  which  human  nature  admits,  deprives  the  party  of  "the 
privileges  of  faith,"*  and  renders  him  an  alien  from  the  Christian  church. 
Both  the  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Church  of  England  have  devised 
terms  of  com?nunion  of  their  own,  and  rendered  it  necessary  for  the 
members  to  comply  with  innumerable  things  besides  those  which  Christ 
has  enjoined  as  requisite  to  salvation.  The  lawfulness  and  propriety 
of  doing  so  is  the  palmarium  argumcntum,  the  main  pillar  and  support 
of  strict  communion.  Let  this  principle  once  be  abandoned,  and  the 
present  controversy  is  at  an  end,  unless  our  opponents  choose  to 
assume  new  ground,  by  affirming  the  necessary  connexion  between 
baptism,  as  they  administer  it,  and  the  attainment  of  eternal  life ;  and 
that  they  should  not  perceive  the  absolute  necessity  of  proceeding  so 
fai*,  in  order  to  be  consistent,  seems  to  approach  to  a  judicial  infatuation. 

3.  The  adherents  to  the  papal  power  claim  to  themselves  the  exclu- 
sive appellation  of  the  church :  the  arrogance  of  which  pretension  is 
faithfully  copied  by  the  advocates  of  strict  communion.  The  former 
however,  by  confining  salvation  within  her  own  pale,  avoid  the  ab- 
surdity into  which  the  latter  fall,  who,  while  they  affirm  the  great  body 
of  the  faithful  are  not  entitled  to  that  appellation,  are  obliged  to  distin  • 
guish  between  the  mystical  body  of  Christ  and  his  church,  which  the 
Scriptures  expressly  affirm  to  be  one  and  the  same. 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  30, 


452  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Th"  Propriety  of  Appealing  in  this  Controversy  to  the  peculiar  Prut' 
cipJes  of  the  Pcdohaptists — briefly  examined  and  discussed. 

It  is  due,  in  my  approliension,  to  the  majesty  of  truth,  that  she  should 
DC  defended  only  hy  truth,  and  that  we  should  on  all  occasions  abstain 
from  attempting  to  increase  her  partisans  by  corrupt  suffrages.  Such 
are  the  suffrages  she  may  accidentally  gain  by  the  influence  of  error. 
As  she  scorns  to  employ  the  aid  of  violence,  "which  is  foreign  to  her 
nature,  so  much  less  will  slie  condescend  to  owe  any  portion  of  her 
ascendency  to  falsehood,  which  it  is  her  eternal  prerogative  to  con- 
found and  to  destroy.  He  who  wishes  to  enlighten  the  human  mind 
will  disdain  to  appeal  to  its  prejudices,  and  will  rather  hazard  the  rejec- 
tion of  his  opinions,  than  press  them  as  a  necessary  corollary  from 
misconceptions  and  mistakes.  If  the  decision  of  controverted  questions 
is  to  be  subjected  to  vote,  and  a  superiority  of  numbers  is  to  pronounce 
a  verdict,  the  means  by  which  they  are  procured  is  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference :  he  who  is  most  successful  in  enlisting  popular  humours  and 
prejudices  on  his  side  will  infallibly  secure  the  victory.  To  all  legiti- 
mate argument,  however,  it  is  essential  for  the  parties  concerned  to 
reason  on  principles  admitted  by  both  ;  to  take  their  stand  upon  com- 
mon ground,  and  to  adopt  no  medium  of  proof  of  the  truth  of  which  he 
who  suggests  it  is  not  satisfied. 

How  far  Mr.  Kinghorn's  management  of  the  controversy  corresponds 
with  these  just  requisitions  the  impartial  reader  will  be  at  no  loss  to 
determine.  In  his  zeal  to  increase  the  number  of  his  partisans,  he 
makes  frequent  and  urgent  appeals  to  the  Pedobaptists,  with  whom  the 
point  at  issue  can  rarely  if  ever  become  a  practical  question,  and  who 
are  therefore  little  interested  in  its  decision.  As  they  admit  without 
hesitation  the  validity  of  our  baptism,  the  question  whether  the  right 
administration  of  that  ordinance  be  an  essential  requisite  to  communion, 
has  no  immediate  relation  to  the  economy  of  their  churches :  it  inter- 
ests them  only  in  the  case  of  those  individuals  who  may  be  desirous 
oC  communing  with  Baptist  societies.  As  far  as  it  concerns  the  neces- 
sity of  that  particular  rite  by  which  we  are  characterized,  it  is  a  con- 
troversy in  which  we  are  the  only  parties ;  and,  however  much  we 
venerate  the  judgment  of  the  religious  public,  Me  cannot  forget  that 
their  motives  to  a  rigorous  examination  of  the  question  bear  no  pro- 
portion to  ours.  To  them  it  is  a  theoretical  inquiry,  to  us  a  practical 
one  of  the  most  serious  moment.  If  in  appealing  to  them,  however 
he  had  constructed  his  reasoning  on  principles  common  to  Baptists  and 
Pedobaptists,  there  had  been  no  room  for  complaint.  But  instead  of 
vhis,  he  enumerates  and  marshals  with  such  anxiety  all  the  appen 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  453 

dages  of  innuit  baptism,  all  it  assumes  and  all  it  infers,  as  so  many 
irrefragable  arguments  for  his  hypothesis,  that  were  we  to  judge  of  his 
sentiments  from  these  passages  alone,  we  should  suppose  him  as  trem- 
blingly alive  to  the  consistency  of  Pedobaptists,  as  Eli  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  ark.  He  adjures  them,  by  every  thing  which  they  deem 
sacred  in  their  system,  not  to  forsake  him  in  the  conflict,  reminding 
them  tnat  if  they  do  so  they  must  abandon  a  multitude  of  positions 
Mdiich  they  have  been  accustomed  to  maintain  against  the  Baptists 
(that  is,  against  himself),  and  be  compelled  to  relinquish  the  field.  He 
therefore  exhorts  them  to  be  faithful  unto  death  in  the  defence  of  error, 
and  to  take  care  that  no  arts,  blandishments,  or  artifices  seduce  them 
to  concessions  which  would  embarrass  them  in  their  warfare,  and 
render  the  cause  of  infant  baptism  less  tenable.  Thus  he  reminds 
them  that  by  admitting  the  principle  for  which  we  contend,  they  must 
relinquish  their  plea  for  baptizing  infants,  on  the  ground  of  its  "giving 
the  seed  of  believers  a  partial  membership,  which  is  recognised  and 
completed  when  they  profess  their  faith  in  maturer  years.  Thus  one 
leading  popular  representation  of  its  utility  is  given  up."  This  infant 
membership,  however,  he  elsewhere  exclaims  against,  as  the  very  pre- 
cursor of  antichrist,  the  inlet  to  almost  every  abomination ;  and  this 
popular  representation  he  considers  as  a  most  dangerous  fiction.*  He 
tells  them,  that  were  he  a  Pedobaptist,  and  disposed  to  adopt  my  theorj^ 
he  should  be  afraid  of  being  pressed  with  the  question,  Of  what  use  is 
infant  baptism  ?t  It  is  unnecessary  to  remind  the  reader  that  in  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Kinghorn  it  is  of  none  v^hatever,  but  a  most  pernicious 
abuse  of  a  Christian  ordinance.  But  what  is  more  lamentable  still,  he 
warns  them  that  if  "  they  enter  into  the  spirit  of  our  representation,  they 
will  be  in  danger  of  neglecting  it  altogether,  and  consequently  either 
abandon  the  whole  institution,  or  be  induced  by  the  examination  of 
Scripture  to  become  Baptists  ;"  that  they  will  "  be  gudty  of  a  complete 
deviation  from  the  principles  of  their  predecessors  ;  that  they  must  find 
new  arguments  for  their  infant  baptism  ;  and  that,  without  attempting  to 
divine  what  they  may  be,  their  cause  will  be  materially  injured  by  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  necessity  of  adopting  new  modes  of  defence." 
All  this  appears  very  strange  from  the  pen  of  a  zealous  Baptist,  who 
contemplates  every  one  of  the  doctrines  which  he  appeals  to  with  un- 
qualified abhorrence,  and  who  must  be  aware  that  just  in  proportion  to 
the  degree  of  their  repugnance  to  the  practice  of  mixed  communion  is 
the  presumptive  evidence  in  its  favour.  To  attempt  the  recommenda- 
tion of  his  theory  by  insisting  on  the  impossibility  of  reconciling  it  with 
what  is  in  his  opinion  a  system  of  delusion,  indicates  something  nearly 
resembling  the  unrestrained  impetuosity  of  a  mind  so  intent  upon  the 
end  as  to  be  indifferent  about  the  means,  and  savours  more  of  the  art 
and  sophistry  of  a  pleader  than  of  the  simplicity  which  characterizes 
a  sober  inquirer  after  truth.  My  knowledge  of  the  author  forbids  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  any  deliberate  intention  to  mislead ;  but  m  ray 
humble  apprehension  he  has  been  betrayed  by  the  warmth  of  debate 
and  the  intemperate  sallies  of  his  zeal,  into  the  use,  to  adopt  the  mildest 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  17.  t  Ibid.  p.  22 


454  RKPLV  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

expression,  of  unhallowecl  weapons,  and,  by  courting  an  alliance  with 
error,  (ieyraiUMl  his  cause. 

It  is  prolialile  ho  will  attempt  to  justify  his  proceednig  hv  saving  he 
has  merelv  availed  himself  of  an  an^^umnitum  ad  homincm.  But  he  has 
greatlv  exceeded  the  limits  assigned  to  that  species  of  argument,  wliich 
may  be  very  properly  employed  to  repel  a  particular  objection  of  an 
opponent,  by  showing  that  it  recoils  upon  himself,  hut  should  never  be 
laid  at  the  basis  of  a  process  of  reasoning,  because  the  utmost  it  can 
effect  is  to  evince  the  inconsistency  of  two  opinions,  without  determining 
which,  or  whether  either  of  them,  is  true. 

But  it  is  not  merely  to  acknowledge  errors  that  the  author  appeals, 
with  a  view  to  discourage  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  from  uniting  with 
us ;  he  also  endeavours  to  rouse  into  action  a  feeling  which,  whatever 
name  he  may  think  fit  to  give  it,  is,  in  my  apprehension,  neither  more 
nor  less  than  pride.  He  remarks,  that  in  joining  with  us  they  must 
either  "  consider  themselves  as  imbaptized,  or  satisfied  with  their  own 
baptism,  whatever  we  may  think  of  it,  or  as  agreeing  with  the  maxim 
that  baptism,  in  any  form,  is  of  no  consequence  to  communion."  The 
first  of  these  suppositions  he  very  properly  puts  aside  as  impossible. 
The  second  he  reminds  them  is  "  degrading,  because  they  permit  them- 
selves to  be  considered  as  persons  who  have  not  fulfilled  the  will  of  the 
Lord,  in  the  very  point  in  Avhich  they  believe  they  have  fnlfilled  it. 
They  consequently  unite  with  us  on  terms  of  inferiority ;  and  he  who 
refuses  to  commune  with  us,  because,  in  so  doing,  he  tacitly  allows 
himself  to  be  considered  as  not  so  complete  a  disciple  of  Jesus  as  he 
thinks  he  is,  acts  a  part  which  is  justifiable  and  dignified."*  The 
amount  of  this  reasoning  is,  that  whenever  a  Christian  perceives  that 
his  brother  entertains  a  less  favourable  opinion  of  his  conduct  in  any 
particular  than  he  himself  does,  he  is  bound  to  renounce  his  communion; 
because,  in  every  such  instance,  he  must  be  considered  as  not  so  com- 
plete a  disciple  as  he  thinks  he  is,  and  to  allow  himself  to  be  so  con- 
sidered is  a  meanness.  And  from  hence  another  consequence  infallibly 
results,  that  no  two  Christians  ought  to  continue  in  communion  between 
whom  there  subsists  the  smallest  diversity  of  judgment  respecting  any 
point  of  practical  religion  ;  for  since  each  of  them,  supposing  them  sin- 
cere, must  believe  his  own  practice  more  agreeable  to  the  will  of  Christ 
than  his  brother's,  that  brother  must  be  aware  that  he  is  considered  as 
not  so  complete  a  disciple  as  he  judges  himself  to  be,  to  which  it  seems 
it  is  degrading  to  submit.  The  author  may  be  fairly  challenged  to 
produce  a  single  example  of  a  disagreement  among  Christians  to  which 
this  reasoning  will  not  apply  ;  and,  therefore,  admitting  it  to  be  just,  he 
has  established  a  canon  which  prohibits  communion  wherever  there  is 
not  a  perfect  unanimity  in  interpreting  the  precepts  of  Christ ;  which  he 
who  reflects  on  the  incurable  diversity  of  human  opinions  will  acknow- 
ledge is  equivalent  to  rendering  communion  impossible. 

Although  the  instance  imder  immediate  consideration  respects  a  point 
of  practice,  the  conclusion  will  hold  equally  strong  in  relation  to  doc- 
trinal subjects.     For,  not  to  remind  the  reader  that  different  opinions  on 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  115,  116. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  455 

practical  points  are  in  effect  different  doctrines,  and  that  the  whole  dis- 
agreement witli  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  originates  in  these,  it  is  un- 
doubtedly true  of  points  of  simple  belief,  as  well  as  of  Christian  duties, 
that  whoever  adopts  a  sentiment  different  from  that  of  his  fellow-chris- 
tians  must,  Iiy  the  latter,  be  regarded  as  in  an  error  ;  and,  since  revelation 
claims  faith  as  well  as  obedience,  "  not  so  complete  a  disciple  as  he 
thinUs  he  is,"  to  which,  if  it  is  degrading  for  him  to  submit,  his  only 
remedy  is  to  depart  and  quit  the  communion.  A  fine  engine  truly  for 
dissolving. every  Christian  society  into  atoms,  and  for  rendering  tlie 
church  of  Christ  the  most  proud,  turbulent,  and  contentious  of  all  human 
associations  ! 

If  it  be  alleged  that  Mr.  Kinghorn's  reasoning  was  not  designed  to 
apply  to  the  smaller  differences  wliich  may  arise,  but  only  to  grave  and 
weighty  matters,  such  as  the  nature  of  a  Christian  ordinance,  the  ob- 
vious answer  is,  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  to  us  for  what  it  was 
designed,  but  whether  it  be  sound  and  valid ;  in  other  words,  whether 
it  be  a  sufficient  reason  for  a  Pedohaptist's  refusing  to  join  with  us,  that 
in  "  so  doing  he  allows  himself  to  be  considered  as  not  so  complete  a 
disciple  as  he  thinks  he  is."  If  it  be,  the  consequences  we  have  de- 
duced will  inevitably  follow. 

Not  satisfied,  however,  whh  denouncing  the  union  of  Pedobaptists 
with  us  as  "  undignified,"  and  as  placing  themselves  on  terms  of  "  in 
feriority,"  he  begs  them  to  consider  whether  it  is  not  a  "  surrender  of 
tlieir  principles  in  a  manner  altogether  inconsistent  with  their  views  of 
the  law  of  Christ."  This  surrender,  he  proceeds  to  inform  us,  consists 
in  their  "  agreeing  to  be  considered  as  unbaptized,  which  is  contrary  to 
the  opinion  which  they  entertain  of  themselves."  We  certainly  make 
no  scruple  of  informing  a  Pedobaptist  candidate  that  we  consider  him 
as  unbaptized,  and  disdain  all  concealment  upon  the  subject ;  but  how 
his  consent  to  join  us  on  these  terms  involves  an  unworthy  surrender 
of  his  principles  is  very  mysterious.  His  principle  is,  that  infant  bap- 
tism is  a  part  of  the  will  of  Christ,  which  we  believe  to  be  a  human 
invention.  Now,  how  his  allowing'  us  to  believe  this,  without  breaking 
with  us  on  that  account,  amounts  to  a  dereliction  of  it,  is  a  riddle  which 
it  would  require  an  CEdipus  to  solve.  May  he  not  retain  his  sentiments 
and  believe  us  in  an  error  ?  and  is  not  his  continuing  unbaptized  a  de- 
monstrative proof  that  he  does  so  1  And  while  this  is  the  case,  and  he 
manifests  his  opinion,  both  by  words  and  actions,  is  he  still  guilty  of 
this  fearful  surrender  ? 

Besides,  what  will  it  avail  him  to  leave  our  communion,  since  oui 
opinion  still  pursues  him ;  and  though  he  should  retire  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  we  shall  still  continue  to  think  "  he  has  not  fulfilled  the  law 
of  Christ  in  the  very  point  in  which  he  believes  himself  to  have  fulfilled 
it."  There  is  no  conceivable  remedy ;  he  must  digest  the  affront  as 
he  can ;  but  why  he  should  feel  it  so  insupportable  only  in  the  case 
of  our  proposing  to  "  receive"  him  is  passing  strange,  except  the  author 
supposes  him  to  be  of  so  canine  a  temper  as  to  be  the  most  dangerous 
when  most  caressed. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  the  happy  versatility  of  the  author,  and  with  what 


456  IJEPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

iloxtcrily  he  v,\n  adapt  his  viands  to  the  taste  and  palate  of  every  guest. 
Wlien  it  was  liis  object  to  load  with  all  possible  odium  the  conduct  ol' 
the  BajUists  in  admitting  the  members  of  other  denominations,  he  pro- 
fesses to  discern  an  essential  disparity  between  their  conduct  and  ours. 
We  (he  tells  us)  are  "  more  to  blame  than  the  Pedobaptisls  that  join 
with  us :  they  surrender  no  principle  ;  they  do  not  unite  with  those 
whom  (/ill/  deem  unbaptized."*  He  was  then  all  intent  on  reproaching 
us ;  when  he  has  to  deal  whh  the  Pedobaplists  he  feels  no  scruple  in 
awarding  them  the  same  measure.  "  The  inquiry,"  he  says,  "  will  irre- 
sistibly arise,  if  they  really  and  heartily  believe  that  infant  baptism  is 
an  institution  of  Christ,  Why  do  they  wish  to  unite  with  people  by 
whom  one  of  his  institutions  is,  in  their  view,  so  manifestly  opposed? 
How  can  they,  in  justice  to  their  families,  unite  with  Baptists  ?"  "  Let 
them,"  he  says  on  another  occasion,  "  consider  whether  they  act  wisely 
or  consistently  if  they  join  with  Baptists  who  receive  them  on  these 
grounds.  If,  on  their  part,  it  is  connected  with  a  sacrifice  of  principle, 
they  will  confess  that  it  is  indefensible."!  By  these  grounds  he  means, 
on  the  supposition  that  baptism  is  not  an  essential  prerequisite  to  com- 
munion, which,  he  is  aware,  is  the  principle  on  which  we  rest  our  vin- 
dication, and  which  is  certainly  perfectly  consistent  with  their  conviction 
of  our  being  baptized  ;  the  very  circumstance  he  urged  before  as  a  proof 
'hat  they  sacrificed  no  principle. 

From  a  writer  who  so  palpably  contradicts  himself  it  w^ere  vain  to 
expect  any  information  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  since  it  is  impos- 
sible to  conjecture  whether  the  union  of  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  does 
or  does  not  involve  a  surrender  of  principle,  in  the  judgment  of  him  who 
afhrms  both.  On  impartial  inquiry  it  will  probably  be  found,  that  though 
no  principle  is  violated  on  either  side,  as  much  candour  is  evinced  on 
the  part  of  Pedobaptisls  in  consenting  to  a  union  as  on  ours.  If  we  join 
with  those  whom  we  are  obliged  to  consider  as  unbaptized,  they  unite 
W'ith  persons  who,  in  their  judgment,  repeat  an  ordinance  which  ought 
to  be  performed  but  once,  nullify  a  Christian  institute,  and  deprive  their 
children  of  the  benefit  of  a  salutary  rite.  And  since  the  subjects  of 
baptism  are  far  more  numerous  on  their  system  than  on  ours,  why  should 
they  be  less  offended  at  our  neglect  of  these  than  we  are  at  their  ex- 
tending the  ordinance  too  far?  Whoever  attaches  importance  to  the 
covenant  into  which  God  is  supposed  to  enter  with  the  seed  of  believers 
must  highly  disapprove  the  conduct  of  the  parent  who  withholds  from 
his  offspring  its  instituted  seed  ;  nor  is  it  possible  for  him  to  cherish  the 
esteem  due  to  him  as  a  Christian  but  by  imputing  his  conduct  to  involun- 
tary error.  The  supposed  cruelty  also  of  refusing  to  insert  an  innocent 
babe  into  the  Abrahamic  stock — the  impiety  of  profaning  a  Christian 
sacrament  by  rebaptizing  might  be  made  the  subject  of  tragic  declama-  • 
tion  with  as  much  propriety  as  their  want  of  "  reverence  to  the  authority 
of  Christ,  and  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  his  house."  If  we  must  tole- 
rate none  who  are  guilty  of  omitting  a  di\'ine  law  (which  is  the  doctrine 
of  Mr.  Kinghorn),  how  is  it  possible  for  a  Pedobaptist  to  bear  with  us, 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  68.  t  Ibid,  p  114 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  457 

who  live  iu  the  perpetual  neglect  of  what  his  principles  compel  him  to 
consider  iu  that  light.  • 

111  the  judgment  of  all  other  denominations,  while  we  neglect  to 
dedicate  our  offspring  to  God  in  tiie  solemnization  of  a  federal  rite, 
however  conscientious  we  may  be,  we  can  but  very  imperfectly  imitate 
the  example  of  Abraham,  of  whom  the  Omniscient  testified  that  he 
"would  command  his  children,  and  his  household  after  him,  to  keep  the 
way  of  the  Lord  :"  or  tbat  of  Zechariah  and  Elizabeth,  "  who  walked 
in  all  the  ordinances  and  commandments  of  the  Lord  blameless."  On  a 
fair  comparison,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  which  party  is  most  entitled 
to  the  praise  of  candour ;  where  both  evince  a  noble  oblivion  of  minor 
partialities  and  attachments,  made  to  yield  to  the  force  of  Christian 
charity,  and  disappear  before  the  grandeur  of  the  common  salvation. 


PART    III. 


IN  WHICH  THE  INSUFFICIENCY  OF  THE  REPLY  MR.  KING- 
HORN  HAS  MADE  TO  THE  PRINCIPAL  ARGUMENTS  URGED 
FOR  MIXED  COMMUNION  IS  EXPOSED. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Hts  Reply  to  the  Argument  deduced  from  the  Scriptural  Injunction  oj 
Mutual  Forbearance  and  Brotherly  Love  considered. 

Reluctant  as  the  author  is  to  prolong  the  present  controversy  to  u 
tedious  length,  he  can  neither  do  justice  to  his  cause  nor  to  himself 
unless  he  notices  the  attempt  which  his  opponent  has  made  to  enervate 
the  force  of  his  arguments  :  and  here  he  will  be  under  the  necessity  of 
recurring  to  the  principal  topics  insisted  upon  in  the  former  treatise. 

That  dissensions  in  the  Christian  church  were  not  unknown  in  the 
earliest  period  of  Christianity  is  evident  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
and  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  who  employed  himself  much  in  attempting 
to  compose  them ;  and  the  principal  method  he  adopted  was,  to  enjoin 
mutual  forbearance,  to  inculcate  the  duty  of  putting  the  most  favourable 
construction  on  each  other's  sentiments,  and  not  suffer  these  differences 
to  alienate  their  affections  from  each  other,  "  whom  Christ  had  re- 
ceived," wdao  were  his  accepted  servants,  and  would  be  permitted  to 
share  in  his  glory.*  From  these  premises  we  argue  thus :  Since  St. 
Paul  assigned  as  a  reason  for  the  mutual  forbearance  of  Christians, 
that  they  were  equally  accepted  of  Cln-ist,  it  was  undoubtedly  a  sujl- 
cieni  one,  and,  admitting  it  to  be  such,  it  must  extend  to  all  who  are  in 
the  same  predicament  (who  are  in  the  same  state  of  acceptance)  ;  and 
as  it  is  allowed  on  both  sides  that  Pedobaptists  are  in  a  state  of  salva- 

*  Rom.xiv.  1-6. 


458  REPLY  TO  KEY.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

tioii,  and  consequrnily  ai-copted  of  Christ ;  the  same  reason  which 
ilietated  the  ineasiA^  of  toU'ration  at  that  period  must  apply  with  equal 
foree  to  the  debate  which  at  present  subsists  between  us  and  other  de- 
nominations. Ill  this  argument  the  conclusion  seems  so  nearly  iden- 
tified witli  the  premises,  that  we  mignt  suppose  the  most  artful  sophistry 
woidd  despair  of  confuting  it,  and  that  the  only  objection  it  were  lialile 
to  would  be  its  attempting  to  prove  what  is  self-evident. 
.  Let  us  now  turn  to  iMr.  Kinghorn.  It  was  observed  in  my  former 
treatise,  that  the  question  is  not,  What  were  the  individual  errors  we  are 
commanded  to  tolerate?  but.  What  is  the  ^rowwfZ  on  which  that  measure 
is  enforced,  and  whether  it  be  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  include  the 
Pedobaptists  1  After  quoting  this  passage,  he  subjoins,  "  this  is  the 
question  at  issue,  and  the  decision  of  this  will  determine  whether  the 
spirit  of  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  will  sanction  us  in  departing  from 
apostolical  precedents,  especially  when  such  precedents  arose  from 
obedience  to  a  Divine  command."*  He  then  proceeds  to  investigate  the 
precise  nature  of  the  dissensions  which  prevailed  in  the  primitive 
churches  ;  from  whence  he  infers,  that  the  disparity  between  them  and 
our  controversy  with  the  Pedobaptists  is  such,  that  the  principle  on 
which  the  apostles  enforced  toleration  is  not  "  applicable."  The  ex- 
pression he  here  employs  is  somewhat  equivocal.  It  may  either  mean, 
that  the  phrase  "  God  hath  received  him,"  does  not  apply  to  the  Pedo- 
baptists, or  that,  supposing  it  does,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  sustain  the 
inference  we  deduce,  which  is  their  right  to  fellowship.  To  interpret 
his  meaning  in  the  latter  sense,  however,  would  be  to  suppose  him 
guilty  of  impeaching  the  validity  of  St.  Paul's  argument,  who  rests  tlie 
obligation  of  forbearance  with  the  party  whose  cause  he  advocates 
precisely  on  that  ground.  "  For  God  hath  received  him."  It  is  also 
inconsistent  with  his  own  statement,  as  given  in  the  following  passage, 
where  he  paraphrases  the  w^ords  just  quoted  in  the  following  manner : — 
"  There  is  nothing  in  the  gospel  but  what  the  Jews  can  believe  and 
obey,  though  they  retain  their  national  partialities  to  the  law ;  and, 
therefore,  since  God  does  not  reject  them,  but  receives  them  ijito  the 
Cliristian  dispensation,  you  should  receive  them  also.  But  then,  he 
adds,  he  receives  them  on  their  believing  and  obeying  the  gospel ;  and  it 
is  neither  stated  nor  supposed  that  he  receives  them,  notwithstanding 
they  disobey  it.  And  unless  this  be  proved,  the  cause  of  mixed  com- 
munion is  not  promoted."!  We  have  here  an  explicit  avowal  that  he 
considers  none  besides  the  Baptists  as  received  of  Christ,  in  the  sense 
the  apostle  intends,  accompanied  with  a  concession,  that  to  prove  they 
were  would  furnish  an  irrefragable  argument  for  our  practice. 

It  was  certainly  not  without  reason  that  he  apologized  for  taking  dif- 
ferent ground  from  Mr.  Booth;  for  here  he  is  directly  at  issue  with  the 
venerable  apologist.  He  frankly  acknowledges  the  fact  which  Mr. 
Kinghorn  challenges  us  to  prove  ;  but  attempts  to  evade  the  conclusion 
by  remarking,  "  that  it  is  not  every  one  is  received  of  Jesus  Christ  w'ho 
is  entitled  to  commimion  al  his  table,  but  such,  and  such  only,  as  revere 
his  authority,"^  &c.     Amid  the  contradictory  statements  of  such  formi- 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  40.  t  Ibid.  p.  45.  t  Ibid.  p.  62 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  459 

dable  champions,  who  can  only  agree  in  their  censures  of  us,  while 
they  are  at  variance  among  themselves  respecting  the  most  fundamental 
points ;  where  one  tells  us  we  are  not  to  commune  with  other  denomi- 
nations, though  they  are  received  by  Christ,  and  the  other  because  they 
are  not  received,  what  course  must  he  who  looks  up  with  profound 
veneration  to  these  great  authorities  take  ?  Where  both  propose  to 
conduct  him  to  the  same  place,  but  one  directs  him  to  the  east,  the 
other  to  the  west,  my  humble  advice  is,  to  believe  neither,  but  to  ex- 
ercise that  liberty  of  thinking  for  himself  to  which  he  is  strongly  invited 
by  the  perplexity  and  confusion  of  his  guides. 

Our  present  concern,  however,  is  with  Mr.  Kinghorn,  who  denies 
that  Pedobaptists  are  received  by  Christ  in  the  sense  which  St.  Paul 
intended  in  the  passage  xuider  consideration ;  while  he  agrees  with  us 
that  it  is  upon  that  principle  that  primitive  toleration  rested. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  while  Mr.  Booth  interprets  the  word  re- 
ceived as  signifying  received  into  the  Divine  favour,  Mr.  Kinghorn  con- 
tends for  its  meaning  admitted  into  the  church.  But  since  many  things 
must  of  necessity  precede  the  act  of  external  communion,  and  every 
believer  must  be  supposed,  in  some  important  sense,  to  be  previously 
received  of  Christ,  he  qualifies,  or  explains,  his  former  language  by 
adding,  "  he  receives  them  into  the  Christian  dispensation."* 

Let  me  crave  the  indulgence  of  the  reader,  while  we  endeavour  tc 
sift  this  matter  to  the  bottom. 

L  Whatever  disparity  may  be  contended  for  between  the  ancient 
dissensions  and  the  modern  dispute  with  the  Pedobaptists,  it  can  by  no 
means  amount  to  a  proof  that  the  latter  are  not  comprehended  under 
the  clause  in  question  (God  hath  received  him).  To  reason  thus,  there 
were  certain  errors  among  the  primitive  professors  which  did  not  bat 
their  admission  into  the  church,  but  the  error  of  the  Pedobaptist  is  of  a 
very  different  kind,  and  therefore  it  must  have  that  eflfect,  would  be  10 
reason  most  inconclusively,  since  all  that  can  be  justly  inferred  is,  that 
it  possibly  7)my  have  that  eflect,  though  the  former  had  not.  The 
utmost  point  to  which  the  argument,  from  the  dissimilarity  of  the  two 
cases,  is  capable  of  being  carried  is,  that  the  latter  may  possibly  not  be 
comprehended  under  the  same  rule ;  but  whether  our  author  has  not 
disqualified  himself  from  urging  it  will  be  the  subject  of  future  inquiry. 
2.  The  medium  by  which  he  attempts  to  establish  his  conclusion  is 
manifestly  untenable,  unless  he  chooses  to  retract  a  large  portion  of 
his  treatise.  -  His  argument  is  this,  that  God  receives  "  such,  and  only 
such,  as  believe  and  obey  the  gospel ;"  but  other  denominations  disobey 

*  For  the  satisfaction  of  the  reader  who  may  not  possess  Mr.  Kinghorn's  book,  it  may  be  proper 
to  give  the  whole  passage  to  which  my  reply  is  directed. 

"Besides,  the  expression,  God  hath  received  him,  ver.  8,  deserves  consideration.  It  clearly  applies, 
as  it  is  stated  by  the  apostle,  to  the  rece])tion  of  the  gentiles  ;  and  is  an  argument  wilh  the  Jewish 
Christians,  not  10  reject  those  brethren  who  eat  all  things.  And  suppose  it  to  be  granted  that  the  expres- 
sion applies  to  both  parties  (which  appears  intended  in  chap.  xv.  7),  the  sense,  then,  is  evidently  this, 
God  receives  not  gentiles  imlij,  but  also  Jews  into  the  Christian  church,  though  they  are  encumbered 
with  their  Jewish  prejudices.  There  is  nothing  in  the  gospel  but  what  Jews  can  believe  and  obey, 
thou!;h  they  retain  their  national  partialities  to  the  law ;  and,  therefore,  since  God  does  not  reject 
them,  but  receives  ihem  into  the  Christian  dispen.sation,  you  should  receive  them  also.  But  then  he 
receives  them  on  their  believing  and  obeying  the  gospel,  and  it  is  neither  slated  nor  suppo.sed  that  he 
receives  them  notwithstanding'they  disobey  it.  And  unless  this  be  proved,  the  cause  of  mixed  conv 
munion  is  not  promoted." — Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  45. 


4t50  \U:i'\.\-    ri<  KKV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

it,  and  are  tlierolbro  not  ciititlnl  to  tliat  privilp>ic.  Ilorc,  however,  he 
is  at  issue  with  a  greater  than  Booth — with  tlie  apostk^s  tlienisclves,  one 
of  whom  (leeUires  that  Christ  "  will  appear  in  flaming  fire,  t.iking  ven- 
geanee  on  them  that  obei/  not  the  gospel  ;''^  and  another  classes  such  as 
ohfij  it  not  among  the  "  ungodly  and  sinners,"  whom  he  solemnly  warns 
of  tlieir  learful  end.  Either,  then,  the  apostles  were  wrong  in  de- 
nouncing destruction  on  such  as  do  not-ohexj  the  gospel,  or  Mr.  King- 
horn  in  loading  the  Pedobaptists  with  that  charge,  while  he  expresses 
a  conlidence  of  their  salvation.  Nor  will  it  avail  him  in  the  least  to 
say  they  do  not  obey  it  perfectly ;  for  we  should  feel  no  hesitation  in 
retorting  the  charge,  and  aflirming  that  had  he  done  so  he  would  not 
have  penned  this  passage. 

3.  As  he  must,  on  his  system,  distinguish  between  being  in  a  state 
of  salvation  and  "  being  received  into  the  Christian  dispensation,^''  there 
are  a  few  questions  to  which  we  should  be  glad  to  receive  an  explicit 
answer.  He  w-ill  acknowledge,  we  presume,  that  every  believer  is  first 
united  to  Christ,  and  received  by  him,  before  he  is  entitled  to  the  ex- 
ternal comnuniion  of  his  church  ;  that  his  right  to  the  latter  is  founded 
on  the  credible  evidence  he  gives  of  his  interest  in  the  first  of  these 
privileges.  If  this  be  admitted,  it  must  hold  equally  true  respecting  the 
Jewish  and  gentile  converts,  whose  mutual  toleration  is  enjoined  in  the 
passage  under  dispute.  Now  I  ask,  according  to  u-hat  dispensation 
were  these  primitive  believers  united  to  Christ,  and  accepted  of  him, 
previous  to  their  external  communion?  Was  it  according  to  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation,  or  some  other?  If  the  reply  is,  the  Christian  ;  I  ask 
again,  are  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  in  possession  of  the  same  privi- 
leges as  were  enjoyed  by  the  primitive  converts  before  their  external 
communion  with  the  church  ?  If  they  are  not,  they  are  not  entitled  to  the 
appellation  of  Christians  in  any  sense,  and  consequently  could  not  be  ad- 
mitted to  communion,  even  though  they  were  baptized.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  acknowledged  that  they  are  possessed  of  the  same  privileges, 
the  question  returns,  bi/  ivhat  dispensation  are  they  held?  If  he  denies 
it  to  be  by  the  Christian,  I  ask  once  more,  how  he  acquired  this  per- 
suasion of  their  possessing  the  privileges  in  question  ?  He  surely  will 
not  pretend  to  have  obtained  it  in  any  other  way  than  by  an  attentive 
perusal  of  the  New  Testament,  by  comparing  the  character  of  pious 
Pedobaptists  with  that  of  the  primitive  Christians,  as  well  as  with  the 
marks  and  criterions  by  which  it  has  directed  us  to  judge  of  a  state  of 
salvation  ;  so  that  the  favourable  opinion  he  professes  to  entertain  must 
rest  on  the  evidence  which  the  principles  of  the  Christian  dispensation 
supply.  But  to  say  that  the  maxims  of  that  dispensation  oblige  him  to 
believe  that  a  class  of  persons  are  interested  in  its  promises,  whom  that 
very  dispensation  does  not  comprehend,  although  they  live  under  it,  is  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  It  is  equivalent  to  asserting  that  the  gospel 
economy  passes  opposite  sentences  on  the  same  persons,  and  affords 
evidence  for  their  seclusion  and  admission,  at  one  and  the  same  moment. 
It  seems  evident  to  a  demonstration,  then,  that  agreeable  to  his  own 
concessions,  other  denominations,  as  well  as  our  own,  are  received  into 
the  Christian  dispensation ;    that  by  virtue  of  its  essential  principles 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  461 

they  are  entitled  toils  immunities  and  privileges,  and  have  consequently 
a  right  to  the  external  communion  of  saints  on  a  double  account ;  first, 
because  such  connnunion  is  one  of  its  distinguishing  benefits,  and 
next,  because  they  are  included  among  the  persons  whom  the  Head  of 
the  church  has  received,  which  our  author  interprets,  by  being  admitted 
into  the  Christian  dispensation. 

For  the  same  reason,  all  that  he  has  said  elsewhere  of  our  not  being 
authorized  by  the  New  Testament  to  recognise  them  as  the  disciples 
of  Christ  necessarily  .falls  to  the  ground;  for  since  he  can  have  no 
pretence  for  believing  them  in  a  state  of  salvation,  except  on  the  infor- 
mation derived  from  the  New  Testament,  which  certainly  promises  sal- 
vation to  none  but  Christ's  disciples,  we  are  not  only  allowed,  but  im 
pelled  by  that  highest  authority  to  recognise  them  under  that  character. 
His  attempt  to  nullify  their  profession  is  also  rendered  completely  abor- 
•tive  :  for,  not  to  repeat  what  was  before  urged,  since  they  profess  neither 
more  nor  less  than  to  adhere  to  the  Christian  dispensation,  it  will  not  be 
denied,  that  if  they  are  actually  received  into  it  that  profession  is  valid. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  that  in  deducing  these  consequences  we  have 
allowed  him  +0  interpret  the  disputed  phrase  in  his  own  way,  without 
contending  for  the  sense  which  is  most  agreeable  to  the  context,  as  well 
as  most  favourable  to  our  hypothesis  ;  and  without  attempting  to  impugn 
the  accuracy  of  his  representation  of  the  dissensions  and  disputes 
which  occasioned  the  injunction,  and  gave  scope  to  the  exercise  of 
primitive  forbearance. 

4.  Though  that  inquiry  might  be  well  spared,  witliout  injury  to  our 
argument,  yet  his  account  of  these  ancient  controversies  is  so  egre- 
giously  partial,  so  palpably  designed  to  serve  an  hypothesis,  that  truth 
forbids  me  to  suffer  it  to  pass  without  animadversion.  In  a  long  and 
perplexed  dissertation,  he  endeavours  to  establish  a  distinction  between 
indulging  a  needless  scrupulosity  in  doing  w^hat  is  not  commanded,  and 
disobeying  an  express  precept ;  contending  that  the  errors  which  St. 
Paul  tolerated  were  of  the  former  sort,  and  that,  as  they  merely  re- 
spected certain  observances  and  customs,  neither  forbidden  nor  enjoined, 
they  were  to  be  considered  as  d(itd<popa,  things  indifferent,  about  which 
the  Christian  religion  is  silent.  He  compares  them  to  disputes  about 
the  planetary  system,  where  it  is  free  for  every  person  to  form  his  own 
judgment,  and  either  to  believe,  with  the  vulgar,  that  the  sun  literally 
moves  round  the  earth  every  four-and-twenty  hours,  or  the  earth  round 
the  sun,  agreeable  to  the  principles  of  modern  astronomy.* 

*  "  The  case  is  very  similar,"  he  says,  "  to  the  following : — At  no  great  distance  of  time  bauk,  the 
popular  opinion  was,  that  the  earth  was  a  fixed  body,  and  that  the  sun  and  stars  made  not  an  ap- 
parent, but  an  actual  revolution  round  the  earth.  The  contrary  appeared  so  unliliely,  so  contrary  to 
daily  observation,  that  numbers  knew  not  how  to  admit  it.  Some  reasoned;  otherstook  a  shorter  way, 
and  laughed  at  what  they  thought  was  absurd ;  another  party  appealed  to  the  Bible,  as  settling  the 
point,  by  asserting  that  the  sun  did  rise,  and  did  set,  and  one  distinguished  day  was  commanded  to 
stand  still.  Good  men  were  to  be  found  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  Suppose  now  that  some 
serious  characters  in  a  Christian  church,  tenacious  believers  that  the  earth  stood  still,  and  that  it 
was  the  sun  that  moued,  had  occasioned  a  little  unpleasant  controversy  with  some  of  their  brethren 
that  were  better  informed  ;  and  the  latter,  provoked  at  their  remarks,  were  for  e.xcommunicatingthem, 
for  want  of  sense,  if  not  for  want  of  religion,  how  fiily  would  the  apostle's  reasoning  apply !  I' 
might  be  said  exactly  on  these  principles,  these  good  men  are  not  chargeable  with  breaking  arii, 
divine  law  :  their  whole  crime  is,  that  they  are  bad  astronomers,  and  talk  nonsense ;  but '  God  hath 
received  them  ;'  do  you  therefore  receive  them  in  the  spirit  of  meeltness  and  love  "—Baptism  a  Term 
Iff  Communio7i,  p.  49,  50. 


462  KETLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

In  onlcr  to  elucidate  the  question  before  us,  it  will  be  proper  brielly 
to  state  the  iliflcrent  modes  of  proceeding  adopted  by  the  Jewish  converts 
respecting  the  Mosaic  ceremonies,  at  the  earliest  period  of  Christianity. 
That  ihcv  were  universally  practised  by  believers  of  Jewish  extraction 
is  manitcst  from  various  parts  of  Scripture;  and  with  respect  to 
the  church  at  Jerusalem,  is  expressly  alhrmed  by  St.  James.  "Thou 
seest,  brother,"  said  he,  addressing  Paul,  "  how  many  tliousand  Jews 
there  are  who  believe,  and  they  are  all  zealous  for  tlie  law."  The 
apostle  of  the  gentiles,  with  all  his  zeal  in  tlie  assertion  of  tlieir  liber- 
ties, conformed  to  them  himself;  partly  from  respect  to  the  Jewish 
people,  whom  he  was  most  anxious,  by  every  hiwful  compliance,  to  con- 
ciliate, and  partly  from  a  tender  consideration  of  the  infirmities  of  his 
weaker  brethren,  not  yet  sufficiently^  confirmed  in  the  freedom  of  the 
gospel.  "To  the  Jews  he  became  a  Jew,  that  he  might  win  the  Jews." 
But  while  he  displayed  this  amiable  and  condescending  spirit,  he  never 
disguised  his  conviction  that  the  obligation  attached  to  the  Mosaic  rites 
was  dissolved,  and  that  the  gospel  was  alone  a  perfect  rule  of  faith  and 
practice. 

Thus  far  an  attention  to  the  law  was  justifiable,  and  founded  on  the 
most  enlightened  principles.  Many,  however,  probably^  the  great  ma- 
jority, proceeded  a  step  further,  and  observed  the  legal  ceremonies,  not 
as  the  dictate  of  prudence  or  for  the  purpose  of  concihation,  but  as  mat- 
ter of  conscience,  conceiving  them  to  be  still  in  force.  These  composed 
that  class  of  believers  who  are  denominated  weak,  whose  infirmities  the 
strong.  Christians  of  a  more  enlightened  order,  were  commanded  to  bear 
with.  The  error  which  these  persons  maintained  was  of  serious  mag- 
nitude ;  for  in  the  very  face  of  an  inspired  apostle,  who  affirmed  the 
law  of  Moses  to  be  abrogated  and  annulled  by  the  advent  of  Christ, 
they  still  pertinaciously  adhered  to  it  as  a  matter  of  personal  and 
indispensable  obligation ;  and  though  they  attempted  to  revive  and  per- 
petuate an  antiquated  system,  an  economy  which  the  gospel  had  com- 
pletely superseded,  and  which  went  by  no  circuitous  route  to  impeach 
the  sufficiency  and  perfection  of  the  latter,  their  complete  toleration  was 
solemnly  and  repeatedly  enjoined  on  their  more  enlightened  brethren. 

This  error  is  compared  by  Mr.  Kinghorn  to  an  erroneous  system  of 
astronomy,  and  is  consequently  considered  as  totally  indiflierent.  But 
how  he  could  possibly  believe  this  himself,  or  hope  to  obtrude  it  on 
the  credulity  of  his  readers,  is  astonishing.  To  attach  the  sanction  of 
religion  to  a  system  which  the  Supreme  Legislator  had  repealed — to 
scruple  various  kinds  of  meat,  at  the  very  moment  that  St.  Paul  was  tes- 
tifying the  Lord  Jesus  had  shown  him  that  nothing  was  unclean  of  itself, 
and  after  Peter  had  proclaimed  the  vision  by  which  he  was  instructed 
that  the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  was  abolished,  betrayed  a 
degree  of  superstitious  weakness  and  pertinacity  most  foreign  from  a 
mistake  on  a  merely  scientific  subject.  Were  a  converted  Jew  at 
present  to  determine  to  adhere  to  the  Mosaic  ritual,  I  would  ask  Mr 
Kinghorn  whether  he  would  consider  his  conduct  as  entitled  to  the 
same  indulgence  as  though  he  scrupled  to  adopt  the  Newtonian  system 
of  the  universe  ? 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  463 

Still  he  will  reply  that  his  error  is  of  a  different  kind  from  that  of 
the  Pedobaptists  ;  he  is  guilty  of  no  omission  of  a  revealed  duty,  while 
they  set  aside  a  positive  institute  of  Christianity.  It  is  by  this  distinc- 
tion, and  by  tliis  alone,  that  he  attempts  to  evade  the  conclusion  to 
which  this  example  conducts  us.  There  is  nothing,  however,  in  reason 
or  in  Scripture,  from  wliich  we  can  infer  that  to  omit  a  branch  of  duty 
not  understood  is  less  an  object  of  forbearance  than  to  maintain  the 
obligation  of  abrogated  rites.  Let  him  assign,  if  he  is  able,  a  single 
reason  why  it  is  less  criminal  to  add  to  than  to  take  away  from  the  law 
of  Christ,  to  revive  an  obsolete  economy  than  to  mistake  the  meaning 
of  a  New  Testament  institute.  How  will  he  demonstrate  will-worship 
to  be  less  offensive  to  God  than  the  involuntary  neglect  of  a  revealed 
precept?  It  is  so  much  more  difficult  to  prove  than  to  assert,  that  we 
commend  his  discretion  in  choosing  the  easier  task. 

The  above  distinction  is  not  only  unfounded  in  the  nature  of  things, 
it  is  at  direct  variance  with  the  reasoning  of  Paul  on  the  subject.  He 
enjoins  the  practice  of  forbearance  on  the  ground  of  the  conscientiousness 
of  the  parties  concerned,  on  the  assumption,  not  only  of  their  general 
sincerity,  but  of  their  being  equally  actuated  in  the  very  particulars  in 
which  they  differed  by  an  unfeigned  respect  to  the  authority  of  Christ ; 
and  as  he  urges  the  same  consideration  as  the  ground  on  which  the 
toleration  of  both  parties  rested,  it  must  have  included  a  something  which 
was  binding  on  the  conscience  of  each,  whatever  was  his  private  judg- 
ment of  the  points  in  debate.  The  Jew  was  as  much  bound  to  tolerate 
the  gentile  as  the  gentile  the  Jew.  "Who  art  thou  that  judgest 
another  man's  servant  ?  to  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth.  One 
man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another ;  another  esteemeth  every  day 
alike.  He  that  observeth  a  day,  observeth  it  to  the  Lord :  he  that 
observeth  not  a  day,  observeth  it  not  to  the  Lord.  He  that  eateth  not, 
to  the  Lord  he  eateth  not ;  he  that  eateth,  eateth  to  the  Lord."  Now 
in  the  judgment  of  the  Jew  still  attached  to  the  Mosaic  rites,  he  who 
made  no  distinction  of  meats  or  of  days  must  have  been  considered  as 
violating  or  neglecting  a  precept  still  in  force,  or  the  injunction  to  refrain 
from  judging  him  would  have  been  devoid  of  meaning.  He  must  have 
consequently  been  regarded  by  him  in  precisely  the  same  light  in  which 
our  Pedobaptist  brethren  are  considered,  that  is,  as  violating,  though  not 
intentionally,  a  positive  institute.  Still  St.  Paul  absolutely  insists  on 
the  duty  of  forbearance ;  and  arguing  with  him  on  his  own  princi- 
ples, he  tells  him  he  has  no  authority  whatever  to  '■'■judge"  or  deem 
him  unworthy  of  his  fellowship,  since  he  was  accepted  of  Christ 
and  acted  with  perfect  good  conscience  in  the  particular  which  gave 
offence.  I  will  leave  the  impartial  reader  to  determine  whether  this  is 
not  a  fair  representation  of  Paul's  reasoning,  and  whether,  admitting 
this,  it  does  not  completely  annihilate  the  distinction  Mr.  Kinghorn 
attempts  to  establish,  and  decide  the  present  controversy  as  satisfac- 
torily as  if  it  had  been  penned  for  the  purpose.  It  is  scarcely  possible 
to  suppose  he  will  stoop  to  avail  himself  of  his  only  remaining  subter- 
fflge,  by  reminding  us  that  in  the  instance  before  us  the  ordinance  sup- 
posed to  be  violated  was  not  a  Christian  one ;  since  it  is  obvious  that 


164  UKrLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

(lie  i-ommands  of  God,  supposing  them  still  in  force,  are  equally  bind 
inij  at  whatever  period  they  are  promulgated  or  to  whatever  economy 
ihey  belong. 

It  is  not,  be  it  remembered,  by  a  peremptory  decision  of  the  eontro- 
versv,  or  bv  assigning  the  victory  to  one  in  preference  to  the  other,  that 
the  apostle  attempts  to  effect  a  reconciliation.  He  endeavours  to  bring 
It  about  while  each  retains  his  peculiar  sentiments  ;  from  which  it  is 
manifest  tluit  there  was  nothing  in  the  views  of  either  party  which  in 
his  judgment  formed  a  legitimate  barrier  to  union.  The  attachment 
of  the  Jew  to  the  observation  of  the  legal  ceremonies  was  not  in  his 
opinion  a  sufficient  reason  for  refusing  to  unite  with  him  by  whom  they 
were  disregarded.  But  in  this  case,  the  forbearance  which  he  enjoins 
was  exercised  towards  a  class  of  persons  exactly  in  the  same  situation, 
as  far  as  its  principle  is  concerned,  with  the  modern  Pedobaptists,  that 
is,  towards  persons  who  violated  a  precept  which  was  still  supposed  to 
be  in  force;  and  this  consequence  equally  results,  whatever  statement 
may  be  made  of  the  precise  object  of  Jewish  toleration,  whether  it 
involved  disputed  practices  among  the  Jews  themselves,  or  the  neglect 
of  tlie  Mosaic  ritual  by  the  gentiles.  Hence,  in  whatever  possible  view 
the  controversy  may  be  considered,  the  apostle's  treatment  of  it  goes 
to  the  complete  annihilation  of  the  distinction  between  the  observation 
of  what  is  not  and  the  neglect  of  what  is  commanded  ;  since  the  mutual 
toleration  which  was  prescribed  embraced  both. 

There  was  a  third  description  of  Jews — who  attempted  to  impose  the 
yoke  of  ceremonies  on  gentiles,  assuring  them  that  "  unless  they  were 
circumcised  and  kept  the  law  of  Moses  they  could  not  be  saved."  It 
was  this  which  occasioned  the  conventioa  of  the  apostles  and  elders 
with  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  where  it  was  solemnly  decided  that 
gentile  converts  should  enjoy  a  perfect  immunity  from  legal  obser- 
vances. This  formal  deteimination,  Iwwever,  was  far  from  putting  an 
end  to  the  controversy :  the  effons  of  Jewish  zealots  were  probably 
repressed  for  a  time,  but  they  soon  recovered  their  resolution,  and 
artfully  propagated  their  doctrines  with  great  success  in  various  quar- 
ters, and  especially  among  the  churches  planted  in  Galatia.  On  this 
occasion  Paul  expressed  himself  with  great  vehemence,  telling  the 
Galatians  that  he  "  could  wish  that  those  who  troubled  them  were  cut 
off."  By  inculcating  the  law  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite  to  salva- 
tion, they  annulled  the  grace  of  God,  subverted  the  truth  of  the  gospel, 
and  impeached  the  sufficiency  and  validity  of  the  great  propitiation. 
The  attempt  to  place  the  rites  of  an  economy  which,  while  it  continued, 
was  merely  the  shadow  of  good  things  to  come  upon  a  footing  with 
the  living  eternal  verities  of  the  gospel,  was  in  effect  to  obscure  its 
lustre  and  debase  its  character.  That  no  indulgence  was  shown 
towards  the  inveuters  and  propagators  of  this  })ernicious  heresy  is 
admitted ;  but  it  is  equally  evident  that  he  made  a  wide  distinction 
between  the  deceivers  and  the  deceived,  between  the  authors  and  the 
nctims  of  delusion.  With  the  last  of  these  he  reasons,  he  expostulates ; 
fle  warns  them  of  the  tendency  of  their  errors,  and  expresses  his  appre- 
oensions  lest  he  had  "  bestowed  upon  them  labour  in  vain."     He  indig 


REPLV  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHOllN.  46a 

(lantly  asks,  Who  had  bewitched  them,  that  they  should  not  obey  the 
truth  ;  tliat  after  bepinning  in  the  Spirit  they  should  end  in  the  flesh  ;  and 
when  they  had  been  replenished  with  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  return  again  to  the  weak  and  beggarly  elements."  But  in  the 
midst  of  these  pointed  reproofs,  as  they  were  not  fully  aware  of  the 
consequences  of  their  defection,  as  they  were  not  in  a  confirmed  state 
of  heresy,  he  continued  to  treat  them  with  the  tenderness  of  a  father, 
without  uttering  a  breath  that  might  seem  like  a  threat  of  excommuni- 
cation. 

r>.  We  shall  not  content  ourselves  with  this  answer.  We  accept 
Mr  Kipphorn's  challenge,  and  engage  to  produce  an  instance  of  men's 
being  tolerated  in  the  primitive  church  who  neglected  an  express  com- 
mand of  Christ,  and  that  of  the  highest  moment.  AVe  must  only  be 
allowed  to  assume  it  for  granted  that  the  apostles  were  entitled  by  the 
highest  right  to  be  considered  as  members  of  the  church  which  they 
planted  and  of  which  they  are  affirmed  to  be  the  foundation.  These 
very  apostles,  however,  continued  for  a  considerable  time  to  neglect  the 
express  command  of  their  Master  relating  to  a  subject  of  the  utmost 
importance.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  he  expressly  directed  them  to 
go  forth  immediately  after  the  descent  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  every  creature.  Did  they  immediately  attempt  to  execute 
this  commission  1  From  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  we  learn  that  they 
did  not ;  that  for  a  considerable  period  they  made  no  eflbrt  to  publish 
the  gospel  except  to  the  Jews,  and  that  it  required  a  new  revelation  to 
determine  Peter  to  execute  this  order  in  its  full  extent,  by  opening  the 
door  of  faith  to  the  gentiles.  But  for  the  vision  presented  at  Joppa, 
from  all  that  appears,  the  preaching  of  the  word  would  have  been 
limited  in  perpetuity  to  one  nation ;  and  when  Peter,  moved  by  an 
immediate  voice  from  heaven,  began  to  impart  it  to  Cornelius  and  his 
family,  he  was  vehemently  opposed  by  the  church  at  Jerusalem.  So 
far  indeed  were  the  primitive  Christians  from  entering  into  the  views 
of  their  divine  Master,  that  when  a  "  number  of  them  were  scattered 
abroad  upon  tlie  persecution  that  arose  about  Stephen,  they  went  as  far 
as  Pha3nicia,  Cyprus,  and  Antioch,  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  Jews 
only."  That  highly-favoured  people,  elated  with  the  idea  of  its  reli- 
gious pre-eminence,  looked  down  with  contempt  on  other  nations,  while 
it  appropriated  the  kingdom  of  God  to  itself  as  its  exclusive  patrimony, 
without  suspecting  for  a  moment  that  it  was  the  design  of  the  Almighty 
to  admit  a  different  race  of  men  to  an  equal  participation  of  the  same 
privileges.  Under  the  influence  of  these  prejudices,  the  first  heralds 
of  the  gospel  slowly  and  reluctantly  imbibed  its  liberal  and  compre- 
hensive spirit. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  instance  in  which  Mr.  Kinghorn  himself  will  be 
found  to  approve  of  the  toleration  of  such  as  have  habitually  neglected 
a  positive  command.  The  great  majority  of  our  own  denomination, 
influenced  principally  by  the  writings  of  Gill  and  Brine,  admirers  of 
Crisp,  held,  till  a  very  recent  period,  that  it  was  improper  to  urge  sin- 
ners to  repentance,  or  to  enjoin  upon  them  the  duty  of  believing  on  the 

Vol.  L— G  g 


mo  KKl'LV  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Lord  Jesus  Clirist.*  Tlieir  practice,  it  is  needless  to  add,  corresponded 
with  their  theory,  and  they  anxiously  guarded  against  the  inculcation 
of  aiiv  spiritual  duties  whatever  on  the  unconverted.  INIy  respectable 
opponent  is,  I  am  aware,  at  a  great  remove  from  these  sentiments  ;  and 
that  the  reason  he  would  assign  for  rejecting  them  is  that  our  Saviour 
commenced  his  ministry  by  calling  men  to  repent,  and  that  "  he  com- 
manded his  apostles  to  testify  everywhere  repentance  towards  God,  and 
faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  But  if  these  be  his  reasons  he  must 
acknowledge  that  the  eminent  persons  before  mentioned,  in  declining  to 
perform  what  our  Lord  commanded  his  apostles,  neglected  or  broke  a 
divine  precept.  But  is  he  prepared  to  affirm  that  they  were  not  mem- 
bers of  the  church?  Will  this  sturdy  champion  of  the  strict  Baptists 
be  ungracious  enough  to  pass  a  sentence  of  excommunication  on  the 
great  majority  of  his  precursors  in  this  controversy  t  Unless  he  is 
prepared  for  this,  he  must  acknowledge  that  the  right  of  toleration  ex- 
tends to  such  as  neglect  or  violate  a  revealed  precept.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  remind  the  reader  of  the  magnitude  of  the  error  in  question, 
which  would  at  once  have  annihilated  the  apostolic  commission,  by 
rendering  it  impossible  to  preach  the  gospel  to  any  creature,  since  there 
were  in  the  gentile  world  none  to  whom  it  could  on  this  principle  be 
addressed.  The  whole  ceremony  of  baptism  sinks  into  insignificance 
in  the  comparison. 

In  answer  to  his  challenge  we  have  produced  two  cases,  in  which 
toleration  has  been  extended  to  such  as  neglect  or  violate  a  divine  pre- 
cept ;  the  first  taken  from  the  holy  apostles,  the  second  from  our  fathers 
and  predecessors  in  our  own  denomination. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  advert  to  the  interminable  discord  and 
dissension  with  which  this  principle  is  replete.  The  principle  is,  that 
whenever  one  Christian  deems  another  to  live  in  the  neglect  and  viola- 
tion of  a  positive  command,  however  conscientious  and  sincere,  he  must 
renounce  the  communion  of  the  party  which  he  supposes  erroneous. 
Who  does  not  perceive  that  the  application  of  such  a  principle  will  fur- 
nish a  pretext  for  endless  dispute  and  contention ;  that  not  only  a  dif- 
ferent interpretation  of  the  law  of  baptism  will  be  a  sufficient  occasion 
of  division,  but  that  whoever  supposes  that  any  branch  of  the  primitive 
discipline  has  fallen  into  disuse,  will  feel  himself  justified,  nay,  compelled 
to  kindle  the  torch  of  discord,  and  to  separate  chief  friends  ?  If  no  lati- 
tude is  to  be  allowed  in  interpreting  the  will  of  Christ,  no  indulgence 
show-n  to  such  of  the  faithful  who,  from  a  deficiency  of  light,  neglect 
and  overlook  some  part  of  his  precepts,  how  is  it  possible  the  practice 
of  reciprocal  exclusion  should  stop  within  the  limits  which  this  author 
has  assigned  it  ?  Are  there  two  thinking  men  to  be  found  who  are  fully 
agreed  respecting  all  the  minuter  details  of  Christian  discipline  and 
worship  1  Are  they  fully  agreed  on  the  question  of  what  was  the  primi- 
tive discipline,  much  less  how  far  a  conformity  to  it  is  either  proper 
or  practicable  ^     Who  that  is  competent  to  speak  on  such  subjects  is 

*  It  is  but  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  great  and  excellent  Fuller  to  observe,  that  it  is  to  his  writings 
ehJefly  our  denomination  is  indebted  for  its  emancipation  from  these  miserable  shackles  and  restraints 
The  author  might  have  added  here  the  name  of  his  excellent  and  venerable  father. — Ed. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  457 

not  aware,  that  there  are  no  questions  involved  in  greater  obscurity 
than  these,  none  on  which  the  evidence  is  less  satisfactory,  and  which 
more  elude  the  researches  of  the  learned,  or  administer  more  aliment 
of  dispute  to  the  contentious  ?  One  class  of  Christians  believes  that  a 
plurality  of  elders  is  essential  to  the  organization  of  a  church,  because 
the  Scripture  always  speaks  of  them  in  the  plural  number ;  and  confi- 
dent that  such  is  the  will  of  Christ,  he  dares  not  recognise  as  a  church 
one  in  which  that  circumstance  is  wanting.  Another  attaches  import- 
ance to  weekly  communion,  which  he  justly  contends  was  the  uniform 
practice  of  the  apostles  and  of  the  primitive  age  :  a  conformity  to  which, 
in  this  particular,  is  with  him  an  indispensable  condition  to  communion. 
A  third  turns  his  eyes  towards  lay  exhortations,  the  disuse  of  which  he 
considers  as  practically  superseding  some  of  the  plainest  passages  of 
Scripture,  quenching  the  Spirit,  and  abridging  the  means  of  religious 
improvement ;  he  consequently  scruples  the  communion  of  those  by 
whom  this  ordinance  is  neglected.  A  fourth  adverts  to  the  solemnity 
with  which  our  Lord  exemplified  and  enjoined  the  washing  of  feet,  and 
the  frequency  with  which  the  apostles  inculcated  the  kiss  of  charity ;  and 
having  no  doubt  that  these  injunctions  are  of  perpetual  obligation,  feels 
himself  necessitated  to  withdraw  from  such  as  by  neglecting  them 
"  walk  disorderly."  A  fifth  contends  for  the  total  independence  of 
churches,  conceiving  that  the  cognizance  of  ecclesiastical  causes  is,  by 
divine  right,  vested  in  the  people,  who  are  to  determine  every  thing  by 
a  majority  of  votes,  in  opposition  to  those  who  contend  for  a  church 
representative  ;  and  believing  such  an  arrangement  to  be  an  important 
branch  of  the  will  of  Christ,  he  conscientiously  refuses  the  communion 
of  those  societies  which  decline  to  adopt  it. 

These  difTerent  systems  are  no  doubt  distinguished  by  different  de- 
grees of  approximation  to  truth ;  but  what  is  of  importance  to  remark, 
however  they  may  differ  in  other  respects,  they  agree  in  this,  that  upon 
the  principle  we  are  attempting  to  expose,  they  furnish  to  such  as 
adopt  them  just  as  reasonable  a  pretext  for  separate  communion  as  the 
disagreement  respecting  baptism  ;  nor  is  it  possible,  if  that  principle  be 
admitted,  to  reconcile  the  independent  exercise  of  intellect  with  Chris- 
tian unhy.  The  instances  already  adduced  are  a  mere  scantling  of 
the  innumerable  questions  which  would  give  occasion  to  a  diversity  of 
judgment  respecting  the  mind  of  Christ,  and  consequently  necessitate 
the  withdrawment  of  Christians  from  each  other.  The  few  societies 
who  have  attempted  to  carry  this  theory  into  practice  have  already 
exhibited  such  a  series  of  feuds  and  quarrels  as  are  amply  sufficient  to 
ensure  its  reprobation ;  and  merely  because  they  have  acted  more  con- 
sistently, they  have  acted  much  worse  than  the  greater  part  of  the 
churches  who  practise  strict  communion.  Let  this  principle  be  once 
established  and  fairly  acted  upon,  and  there  is  no  question  but  that 
divisions  will  succeed  to  divisions,  and  separations  to  separations,  until 
two  persons  possessed  of  freedom  of  thought  will  scarcely  be  found 
capable  of  walking  together  in  fellowship  ;  and  an  image  of  the  infinite 
divisibility  of  matter  will  be  exhibited  in  the  breaking  down  of  churches 
into  smaller  and  smaller  portions.     An  admirable  expedient  truly  for 

Gg2 


468  REIM.V   JO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHGRN. 

keepiinj  the  imiiy  of  iho  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  !  That  there  is  no 
hyperboh^  in  tliis  representation  will  be  obvious,  if  we  do  but  consider 
the  dilFiculty  of  procuring  an  entire  unanimity  in  the  interpretation  of 
those  parts  of  Scripture  which  are  supposed  to  relate  to  the  will  of 
Christ  in  the  organization  and  constitution  of  his  church. 

6.  There  is  one  important  consideration  to  which  the  reader  is 
requested  to  attend  before  we  dismiss  this  branch  of  the  subject.  My 
opponent  aflirms,  that  none  besides  our  own  denomination  are  compre 
hended  within  the  clause  in  which  the  apostle  affirms  the  reception  of 
erring  Christians.  He  acknowledges,  that  if  it  can  be  proved  that  they 
are  included  under  that  description,  the  precept  of  toleration  extends  to 
their  case,  and  that  the  only  question  at  issue  is,  whether  they  are  so 
or  not,  which  he,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Booth,  denies.*  The  reader  is 
entreated  seriously  to  consider  the  necessary  result  of  this  position, 
whether  it  does  not  amount  to  a  repeal  of  the  Scriptures,  considered  as 
the  rule  of  faith  and  manners.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  promises 
and  precepts  of  the  New  Testament  are  uniformly  addressed  to  the  same 
description  of  persons  with  those  particular  injunctions  under  present 
discussion,  and  that  under  the  terms  strong  and  v-eak,  by  which  are 
designated  the  two  respective  classes  who  are  commanded  mutually  to 
bear  with  each  other.  Nor  can  we  hesitate  whether  the  disputed  phrase 
God  hath  received  him  ought  to  be  interpreted  in  the  same  extent.  As 
the  inscriptions  prefixed  to  the  inspired  epistles  determine  to  whom 
they  were  addressed,  so  that  which  Avas  written  to  the  Romans  is 
inscribed  to  "  all  that  be  at  Rome,  beloved  of  God,  called  to  be  saints ;" 
and  not  a  syllable  is  found  in  the  precepts  respecting  mutual  for- 
bearance, comprised  in  the  14th  and  15th  chapters,  which  limits  them 
to  any  particular  part  of  that  church  in  distinction  from  the  whole. 
They  were  intended  for  the  universal  regulation  of  the  conduct  of  the 
members  of  that  community  towards  each  other. 

The  epistles  of  the  rest  of  the  apostles  also,  though  directed  to  the 
inhabitants  of  diilerent  places  from  that  to  the  Romans,  are  uniformly 
ascribed  to  the  same  description  of  persons,  as  will  be  manifest  on  their 
inspection  ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  supposed  genuine  foUoMers  of  Christ 
in  that  age  are  the  persons  to  whom  the  epistolary  parts  of  the  New 
Testament  are  directed  ;  and  consequently  universal  precepts  enjoined 
on  any  one  society  must  have  been  considered  as  equally  binding  on  all 
the  faithful.  On  any  other  supposition,  each  church  would  have  pos- 
sessed a  distinct  code,  instead  of  the  inspired  writings  at  large  being 
regarded  as  the  universal  rule  of  faith  and  practice.  Hence  it  follows 
that  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  as  well  as  those  who  were  scattered 
throughout  Pontus,  Galatia,  and  Cappadocia,  supposing  them  acquainted 
with  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  would  have  been  under  the  same  obli- 
gation of  observing  its  injunctions  with  the  Christians  at  Rome.-    But 

*  The  author  of  Terms  nfCommumon  observes,  "  that  the  question  at  issue  is  not,  What  were  th« 
individual  errors  we  are  commanded  to  tolerate — but.  What  is  the  ground  on  which  that  measure  ia 
enforced,  and  whether  it  be  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  include  the  Pedobaplists  !"  In  reply  te 
which  Mr.  Kinghorn  sets  out  with  remarking,  "I  admit  that  is  tlu  question,  and  the  decision  of  this 
question  will  determine  whether  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  will  sanction  us  in  departing  from  apos- 
tolical precedent,"  &e. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.        4^9 

among  the  various  precepts  intended  to  regulate  the  conduct  of 
Christians  comprised  in  tlie  code  of  inspiration,  such  as  enjoin  mutual 
forbearance  with  each  other's  imperfections  and  infirmities  hold  a 
conspicuous  place,  and  the  rule  propounded  on  that  occasion  we  per- 
ceive to  have  been  universally  obligatory  on  believers  of  that  generation. 

When  we  propose  to  extend  the  same  method  of  proceeding  to  our 
Pedobaptist  brethren,  in  the  present  day,  we  are  repelled ;  and  my 
opponent  reminds  us,  that  we  are  not  authorized  to  assign,  in  the  pres- 
ent case,  the  reason  for  forbearance  which  was  urged  by  St.  Paul, 
because  they  are  not  received  in  the  sense  which  we  intended.  The 
reason  itself,  he  acknowledges,  would  be  a  sufficient  justification,  could 
the  fact  on  which  it  proceeds  be  established  ;  but  he  denies  the  fact. 

Their  error,  it  is  asserted,  is  of  such  a  nature,  that  it  places  them 
totally  out  of  the  question,  and  whatever  is  said  on  the  subject  of 
mutual  forbearance  in  the  New  Testament  is,  in  the  present  state  of 
things,  to  be  considered  as  applicable  merely  to  the  conduct  of  Baptists 
towards  each  other ;  from  which  it  necessarily  follows,  that  no  part  of 
the  precepts  or  promises  of  Scripture  can  be  proved  to  apply  to  the 
great  body  of  believers,  at  present,  not  even  to  such  as  appear  pre- 
eminent in  piety ;  for  all  these  precepts  and  promises  were  originally 
addressed  precisely  to  the  same  description  of  persons  with  the 
injunctions  in  question  ;  and  as  it  is  contended  that  these  belong  at 
present  only  to  Baptists,  by  parity  of  reason  the  former  must  be 
restricted  to  the  same  limits.  On  this  principle  there  is  not  a  syllable 
in  the  New  Testament  from  which  a  Pedobaptist  can  derive  either 
consolation  or  direction  as  a  Christian  ;  not  a  single  promise  which  he 
can  claim,  nor  a  single  duty  resulting  from  the  Christian  calling  with 
which  he  is  concerned :  for  the  class  of  persons  to  whom  these  were 
originally  addressed  was  one  and  the  same  with  those  on  whom  the 
duty  of  mutual  forbearance  was  inculcated. 

The  inscription  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  of  the  same  extent 
with  the  injunctions  contained  in  the  14th  and  15th  chapters,  and  no 
greater;  the  same  description  of 'persons  are  evidently  addressed 
throughout.  It  was  the  saints,  the  beloved  of  God,  mentioned  in  the 
beginning  of  the  letter,  who,  on  account  of  their  common  relation  to 
the  Lord,  were  commanded  to  bear  with  each  other's  infirmities.  Now 
if  it  be  asserted  that  infant  baptism  is  an  error  so  different  from  those 
which  were  contemplated  by  the  author,  in  that  injunction,  that  its 
abetters  stand  excluded  from  its  benefit,  how  will  it  be  possible  to  prove 
that  they  are  saints,  that  they  are  beloved  of  God,  or  that  any  of  the 
attributes  ascribed  to  Christians  in  that  epistle,  belong  to  thefn?  Mr. 
Kinghorn  may  affirm,  if  he  pleases,  that  the  characteristic  descriptions 
are  applicable,  while  the  injunctions  under  discussion  are  not.  He 
may  affirm,  but  how  will  he  prove  it?  since  both  are  addressed  to  the 
same  persons,  and  the  injunction  of  forbearance  enjoined  alike  on 
them  all. 

From  a  letter,  consisting  partly  of  affectionate  congratulations,  and 
partly  of  serious  advice,  both  intended  for  the  comfort  and  direction  of 
the  same  persons,  to  infer  that  the  congratulations  apply  to  Christian^ 


470  KMnM-V  TO  KEY.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

of  all  (loiiominations,  and  the  advice  to  one  only,  is  capricious  and 
unreasonable.  The  same  conclusion  holds  good  respecting  the  whole 
of  the  Now  Testament.  AVhatever  is  aflirined  in  any  part  of  it  re- 
specting the  privilege  of  primitive  believers  was  asserted  primarily  of 
such  only  as  were  baptized,  because  there  were  no  others  originally  in 
the  church :  all  the  reciprocal  duties  of  Christians  were,  in  the  first 
instance,  enjoined  on  these  ;  among  which  we  find  precepts  enforcing, 
without  a  shadow  of  limitation,  the  duty  of  cultivating  Christian  fellow- 
ship. But  the  last,  our  ojiponcnts  contend,  are  to  be  restricted  to  Bap- 
tists ;  whence  it  necessarily  follows,  unless  we  had  some  independent 
evidence  on  the  subject,  that  the  former  must  be  restricted  in  the  same 
manner;  and  that,  consequently,  all  other  denominations,  however 
excellent  in  other  respects,  are  left  without  any  scriptural  proof  of 
their  interest  in  the  Divine  favour,  or  any  directions  for  that  part  of  their 
conduct  which  concerns  their  Christian  obligations.  Were  there,  indeed, 
any  other  medium  of  proof  besides  the  writings  of  the  apostles,  of 
equal  authority,  by  Avhich  it  were  possible  to  supply  their  deficiency, 
the  case  would  be  difierent.  From  this  independent  source  we  might 
possibly  learn  the  fact,  that  other  denominations  also  were  included 
witliin  the  promise  of  eternal  life  ;  but  while  our  knowledge  on  the 
subject  is  derived  from  one  book,  whose  precepts  for  the  regulation  of 
the  conduct  of  believers  towards  each  other  universally  are  affirmed 
not  to  extend  to  our  intercourse  with  Pedobaptists,  it  is  impossible  to 
establish  that  conclusion;  for  to.  attempt  to  limit  the  application  of 
Scripture  in  one  part,  and  to  make  it  universal  in  another,  where  both 
were  originally  intended  to  be  taken  in  the  same  extent,  is  plainly 
unreasonable. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

On  the  Argument  for  Mixed  Communion,  founded  on  the  Pedobaptists 
being  a  Part  of  the  true  Church. 

The  author  of  Terms  of  Communion  founded  an  argument  for  the 
admission  of  sincere  Christians  of  every  denomination  to  the  Lord's 
table  on  their  being  a  part  of  the  true  church.  He  remarked,  that 
whenever  that  term  occurs  in  Scripture,  in  relation  to  spiritual  matters, 
it  constantly  denotes  either  members  of  a  particular  community,  accus 
tomed  to  meet  in  one  place ;  or  the  whole  body  of  real  believers,  dis 
persed  throughout  the  world,  but  considered  as  united  to  one  head  , 
that  this  body  is  expressly  affirmed  to  be  the  body  of  Christ,  of  which 
every  genuine  believer  is  a  member ;  that  we  are  seriously  Avarned 
against  whatever  tends  to  promote  a  schism  in  it ;  and  that  these  admo- 
nitions are  directly  repugnant  to  the  practice,  under  any  pretext  what- 
ever, of  repelling  a  sincere  Christian  from  communion.  If  we  allow 
the  identity  of  the  church  of  Christ  with  his  body,  which  St.  Paul 
exp»-essly  affirms,  and  which  he  assumes  as  the  basis  of  his  whole 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  471 

jam  of  reasoning,  the  conclusion  we  have  drawn  resuUs  from  it  so 
immediately,  that  the  attempt  to  place  it  in  a  clearer  light  seems  a 
waste  of  words.  If  the  alienation  of  affection  which  prevailed  in  the 
church  at  Corinth  was  suflicient  to  constitute  a  schism,  much  more  a 
rupture  of  communion.  But  a  schism,  or  division  in  the  body,  the 
apostle  deprecates  as  one  of  the  greatest  evils,  as  tending  immediately 
to  its  destruction,  as  well  as  most  repugnant  to  the  scope  and  genius  of 
Christianity.  "  Now  this  I  say,  that  every  one  of  you  saith,  I  am  of 
Paul,  and  I  of  ApoUos,  and  I  of  Cephas,  and  I  of  Christ.  Is  Christ 
,  divided  ?"*  "  As  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the 
members  of  that  one  body,  being  many,  are  one  body,  so  also  is 
Christ."  Here  the  unity  of  the  church  is  most  clearly  affirmed ;  and 
whatever  tends  to  divide  it  is  stigmatized  under  the  notion  of  an  attempt 
to  divide  Christ  himself. 

The  reader  will  probably  feel  some  curiosity  to  know  how  Mr. 
Kinghorn  will  reconcile  his  hypothesis  with  these  statements  ;  whether 
he  is  prepared,  in  contradiction  to  the  apostle,  to  deny  the  identity  of 
the  church  of  Christ  with  his  body,  or  whether,  acknowledging  this,  he 
will  yet  contend  for  the  necessity  of  dividing  it,  in  opposition  to  his 
solemn  injunctions.  He  will  be  a  little  surprised  at  finding  that  he 
makes  no  reply  whatever :  that  he  is  speechless,  and  without  attempt- 
ing to  rebut  the  argument,  turns  aside  to  other  subjects,  on  which  he 
contents  himself  with  repeating  what  he  has  already  asserted  times 
without  number.  For  what  purpose  he  announced  his  intention  to 
discuss  this  topic  it  is  not  easy  to  conjecture ;  unless  he  flattered  him- 
self with  the  hope  of  finding  some  good-natured  readers,  who  would 
give  him  credit  for  having  done  what  he  avowed  his  intention  of  per- 
forming. Be  this  as  it  may,  not  a  word  escapes  him  throughout  the 
chapter  from  which  it  is  possible  to  learn  whether  he  considers  Pedo- 
baptists  as  a  part  of  the  church  or  not,  the  affirmation  or  denial  of 
which  is  essentially  involved  in  the  discussion. 

■  The  only  answer  he  attempts  to  the  preceding  reasoning  is  included 
in  an  assertion,  the  fallacy  of  which  has  already  been  amply  exposed. 
"  Once  take  away  the  obligation,"  saith  he,  "  of  conforming  to  the  will 
of  Christ,  and  the  Reformation  is  declared  a  mischievous  insurrection, 
in  which  all  parties  are  involved  in  aiding  and  abetting  a  needless  and 
schismatical  project.  But  if  it  be  right  to  leave  good  men  because 
they  have  lefi  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  right  not  to  admit  his  terms  till  they 
come  to  them."t  To  which  it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  that  to  leave  good 
men,  that  is,  to  refuse  to  join  with  them  in  those  particulars  in  which 
we  suppose  them  to  have  deviated  from  the  will  of  Christ,  is  the 
necessary  dictate  of  allegiance  ;  but  to  refuse  to  walk  with  them,  as  far 
as  we  are  agreed,  to  repel  them  from  our  communion  on  account  of 
errors  and  corruptions,  in  which  we  are  under  no  necessity  of  partici- 
pating, is  a  very  different  affair  ;  it  is  an  assumption  of  infallibility,  and 
a  deliberate  invasion  of  the  rights  of  conscience. 

The  logical  force  of  Mr.  Kinghorn's  conclusion  is  exactly  on  a  footing 

*  1  Cor.  i.  12,  13.  t  Baptism  a  Term  of  Caimiunion,  p.  55. 


472  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

with  that  of  the  following  argumoiU.  If  it  be  riglit  to  leave  my  friend 
when  he  repairs  to  the  gaming-table,  it  is  right  not  to  admit  him  into 
iny  house  till  ho  has  relinquislied  the  practice  of  gaming.  If  I  must 
not  go  with  him  to  the  theatre,  I  must  renounce  all  sort  of  intercourse 
with  him  until  he  has  abandoned  theatrical  amusements;  a  conclusion 
to  which  a  stern  moralist  may  easily  be  supposed  to  arrive,  but  which 
no  correct  reasoner  will  attempt  to  deduce  from  these  premises. 

That  the  mystical  body  of  Christ  is  one  and  one  only,  and  that  all 
sincere  believers  are  members  of  that  body,  is  so  clearly  and  unequi- 
vocally asserted  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  that  it  would  be  trifling  with 
the  reader  to  enter  into  a  formal  proof  of  a  proposition  so  obvious  and 
so  undeniable.  The  wildest  heretical  extravagance  has  never  pro- 
ceeded so  far  as  to  ascribe  two  or  more  mystical  bodies  to  the  same 
Head,  or  to  deny  dial  Christ  is,  in  that  character,  really  and  virtually 
united  to  all  the  faithful.  It  is  equally  certain  that  the  term  church, 
whenever  it  is  applied  to  denote  the  wliolc  immt)er  of  believers  diflused 
over  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  identified  in  Scripture  with  the  body  of 
Christ.  The  church  is  in  more  passages  than  one  affirmed  to  be  his 
body.  "  He  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  church.  Who  now  rejoice," 
saith  St.  Paul,  "  in  my  sufferings  for  you,  and  fdl  up  that  which  is 
behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ  in  my  ^es\\,forhls  hody^s  sake,  tohich 
is  the  church."* 

In  the  language  of  Scripture,  two  classes  of  men  only  are  recognised, 
believers  and  unbelievers,  the  church  and  the  world ;  nor  is  it  possible 
to  conceive  in  consistency  whh  the  dictates  of  inspiration  of  a  third. 
All  who  are  in  Christ  are  in  a  state  of  salvation ;  all  who  belong  to  the 
world,  in  a  state  of  spiritual  death  and  condemnation.  "  The  former 
■tire  in  him  that  is  true,  even  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ ;  the  latter,  the 
whole  world,  lieth  in  the  wicked  one."  If  we  allow  ourselves  to  imagine 
a  description  of  persons,  who,  though  truly  sanctified  in  Christ  and 
united  to  him  as  their  head,  are  yet  no  parts  of  his  church,  we  adopt  a 
Utopian  theory,  as  unfounded  and  extravagant  as  the  boldest  fictions  of 
romance.  It  is  the  church,  and  that  only,  if  we  believe  the  inspired 
writers,  which  "  Christ  so  loved  as  to  give  himself  for  it,  that  he  might 
sanctify  it  and  cleanse  it ;"  it  is  that  alone  which  "  he  will  present  to 
himself,  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle."* 

It  is  strange  that  Mr.  Kinghorn  should  not  explicitly  inform  us  whether 
Pedobaptists  are  or  are  not  to  be  considered  as  a  part  of  this  universal 
church.  This  he  ought  certainly  to  have  done,  or  have  declined  enter- 
ing on  a  branch  of  the  controversy  which  he  must  be  aware  hinges  en- 
tirely on  that  point.  If  they  are  admitted  to  be  a  part  of  his  church 
and  he  still  contends  for  their  exclusion,  this  is  formally  to  plead  for  a 
schism  in  the  body  ;  it  is  to  justify  the  forcible  separation  of  one  mem- 
ber from  another,  and  to  destroy  the  very  idea  of  its  unity.  On  this 
principle,  the  pathetic  exhortations  to  perfect  co-operation  and  concord, 
drawn  from  the  beautiful  analogy  between  the  mystical  and  natural  body 
insisted  upon  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  are  completely  su- 
perseded ;  and  one  member,  instead  of  being  prohibited  from  saying  to 

•  Col.  i.  10,  23     Ephes.  v.  23,  30,  32.    1  John  iii.  19,  20.  Ephes.  v.  27 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  473 

another,  "I  have  «o  need  of  thee,"  is  taught  to  shrink  from  the  contact 
as  a  contamination.  Whenever  we  are  invited  10  concur  in  practices 
which  we  esteem  erroneous  or  corrupt,  our  refusal  to  comply  is  justified 
by  a  principle  the  most  obvious  and  the  most  urgent,  the  previous  obli- 
gation of  obeying  God  rather  than  man  ;  but  if  we  object  to  a  transient 
act  of  connnunion  with  a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ  on  account  of 
those  errors  or  corruptions  in  which  we  are  not  called  to  participate,  we 
are  guilty  of  dividing  that  body.  The  reason  of  my  adverting  to  a 
transient  act  is,  that  I  am  supposing  the  cause  of  separation  to  rest  with 
us,  and  that  a  member  of  a  different  community  proposes  merely  to 
unite  in  an  occasional  commemoration  of  the  ineffable  love  of  the  Re 
deemer,  without  either  a  formal  renunciation  of  the  peculiarities  of  his 
sect  or  an  attempt  to  introduce  them.  In  such  circumstances  occasional 
fellowship  is  all  that  can  be  looked  for ;  the  adoption  of  different  modes 
of  worship,  a  predilection  for  different  rites  and  ceremonies  will  natu- 
rally dispose  him  to  prefer  a  permanent  union  with  professors  of  his 
own  persuasion.  While  in  the  mutual  intercourse  of  such  societies  a 
disposition  to  recognise  each  other  as  Christians  is  cultivated,  the  unity 
of  the  body  is  preserved,  notwithstanding  their  disagreement  in  particu- 
lar points  of  doctrine  or  of  discipline.  Owing  to  a  diversity  of  judgment 
respecting  the  proper  organization  of  churches,  obstacles,  at  present 
invincible,  may  prevent  their  incorporation ;  and  it  is  left  to  the  con- 
science of  each  individual  to  determine  to  which  he  will  permanently 
unite  himself.  An  enlightened  Christian  will  not  hesitate  for  a  moment 
in  declining  to  join  with  that  society,  whatever  be  the  piety  of  its  indi- 
vidual members,  in  which  the  terms  of  communion  involve  his  concur- 
rence in  religious  observances,  of  whose  lawfulness  he  entertains  any 
doubt.  Hence  arises  in  the  present  state  of  religion  an  impassable 
barrier  to  the  perfect  intercommunity  of  Christian  societies.  But  it  is 
not  upon  tliis  ground  that  my  opponent  objects  to  the  practice  for  which 
we  are  contending.  He  rests  his  refusal  to  commune  with  members  of 
other  denominations  on  the  principle  of  their  not  being  entitled  to  be 
recognised  as  Christians.  He  protests  against  a  union  with  them,  not 
on  account  of  any  erroneous  or  superstitious  observances  with  which 
the  act  of  fellowship  is  necessarily  combined,  but  considers  them  as 
personally  disqualified.  His  hypothesis  is  indeed  so  wild  and  incohe- 
rent that  it  is  difficult  to  state  it  with  accuracy,  or  to  preserve  a  steady 
conception  of  it  in  the  mind.  According  to  his  theory  the  Pedobaptists 
occupy  a  station  the  most  anomalous  and  extraordinary  that  ever  en- 
tered the  human  imagination.  Many  of  them  are  genuine  believers,  of 
whose  exalted  piety  he  avows  the  fullest  conviction,  yet  they  are  not  to 
be  recognised  as  Christians ;  they  are  members  of  the  mystical  body 
of  Christ,  or  they  could  derive  from  him  no  saving  influence  or  benefit, 
yet  are  excluded  from  all  the  advantages  resulting  from  the  union  and 
co-operation  of  the  several  parts  of  which  it  consists  ;  and  though,  as  a 
portion  of  the  mystical  body,  it  is  impossible  to  deny  them  a  place  in 
the  one  catholic  or  universal  church,  yet  it  is  the  duty  of  every  particu- 
lar church  to  disown  and  exclude  them.  In  short,  the  great  majority  of 
the  sincere  followers  of  the  Saviour,  whose  names  are  written  in  tho 


474  UEIMA    ru  KEY.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

book  of  life,  are  totally  ilisiiualilicil  for  performing  the  duties  aiul  en 
joyintr  the  privileges  whieh  distinguish  the  church  from  the  world  , 
between  which  they  occupy  some  intermediate  place,  some  terra  incog 
ntVrt,  whose  existence  it  is  as  dillicnlt  to  ascertain  us  \he  li/nbus  pafrii/n, 
or  a  mansion  in  the  moon.  In  the  present  state  of  the  Christian  church, 
that  extensive  portion  of  the  New  Testament  which  was  designed  to 
cement  the  alTections  and  to  regulate  the  conduct  of  the  faithful  towards 
each  other  is  superseded ;  its  precepts  are  in  a  state  of  suspension  and 
abeyance,  and  in  the  midst  of  Egyptian  darkness  which  envelopes  the 
Christian  world,  the  Baptists  alone  dwell  in  the  light  of  another  Goshen. 
However  strange  these  positions  may  appear,  they  form  but. a  part  of 
the  absurdities  which  necessarily  flow  from  our  author's  theory ;  nor  is 
there  any  possible  way  of  evading  them  but  by  denying  that  Pedo- 
baptists  belong  to  the  mystical  body  of  Christ,  or  demonstrating  the 
consistency  of  their  exclusion  with  the  union  and  co-operation  which  St. 
Paul  enjoins ;  or  by  asserting  the  existence  of  more  mystical  bodies 
than  one,  destined  to  subsist  apart. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Injustice  of  the  Exclusion  of  other  Denominations  considered  as  a 

Punishment. 

In  the  treatise  On  Terms  of  Communion  it  was  urged,  that  as  exclu- 
sion from  the  communion  of  the  church  is  the  highest  ecclesiastical 
censure  w^hich  it  is  possible  to  inflict,  it  can  only  be  justified  on  the 
supposition  of  a  proportional  degree  of  demerit  in  the  objects  of  it.  If 
the  moral  turpitude  inherent  in  the  practice  of  infant  baptism  is  of  an 
order  which  entitles  it  to  be  compared  to  the  habitual  indulgence  of 
vice  or  the  obstinate  maintenance  of  heresy,  it  is  but  fit  it  should  be 
placed  on  the  same  level  and  subjected  to  the  same  treatment ;  but  if 
the  understanding  and  the  heart  equally  revolt  at  such  a  comparison, 
that  method  of  proceeding  must  be  allowed  to  be  unjust.  To  this  our 
author  replies  by  denying  the  propriety  of  applying  the  term  exclusion 
to  a  bare  refusal  of  admission.  "  AVords,"  he  informs  us,  "  must 
strangely  have  altered  their  meaning  before  such  an  application  of  the 
phrase  in  question  can  be  justified."  To  be  compelled  to  dispute  about 
the  meaning  of  terms  is  always  humiliating,  but  that  his  assertion  is 
unfounded  is  sufficiently  evident  from  the  authority  of  the  most  eminent 
critics.  Our  great  lexicographer,  under  the  word  exclude,  defines  it 
thus :  "  to  shut  out,  to  hinder  from  entrance  or  admission ;"  exclusion 
he  defines  "  the  act  of  shutting  out  or  denying  admission."  Thus  much 
for  his  accuracy  as  a  grammarian.     Let  us  next  examine  his  reasoning. 

He  denies  that  the  act  of  debarring  every  other  denomination  from 
admission  is  a  punishment — "  it  is  not  considered  as  such  by  sensible 
Pedobaptists."*     But  why  is  it  not  ?     Solely  because  the  Baptist  socie- 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communionj  p.  60 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  475 

rfes  are  too  few  and  too  insignificant  to  enable  them  to  realize  the  effects 
of  their  system  in  its  full  extent.  Their  principle  involves  an  absolute 
interdict  of  church  privileges  to  the  members  of  every  other  community, 
but  being  an  inconsiderable  minority,  there  are  not  wanting  numerous 
and  respectable  societies  who  stand  ready  to  give  a  welcome  reception 
to  the  outcasts  and  to  succour  the  exiles.  That  their  rejection  is  not 
followed  by  its  natural  consequence,  a  total  privation  of  the  communion 
of  saints,  is  not  to  be  ascribed  in  the  smallest  degree  to  the  liberality  or 
forbearance  of  our  opponents,  but  solely  to  tlieir  imbecility.  The  cele- 
bration of  the  Eucharist  they  consider  as  null  and  void  when  attended 
to  by  a  Pedobaptist ;  his  approach  to  the  table  is  absolutely  prohibited 
within  the  sphere  of  their  jurisdiction;  and  should  their  principles  ever 
obtain  a  general  prevalence,  the  commemoration  of  the  love  of  a  cruci- 
fied Saviour  would  become  impracticable,  except  to  persons  of  their  own 
persuasion.  Instances  have  often  occurred  where  the  illiberal  practice 
against  which  we  are  contending  has  been  felt  to  be  a  punishment  of 
no  ordinary  severity  ;  where  eminently  holy  men  have  been  so  situated 
that  the  only  opportunity  they  possessed  of  celebrating  the  passion  of 
the  Redeemer  has  been  withheld,  and  they  have  been  compelled  most 
reluctantly  to  forego  one  of  the  most  exalted  privileges  of  the  church ; 
nor  has  it  ever  been  known  that  compassion  for  the  peculiar  hardship 
of  the  ease  was  suflered  to  suspend  the  unrelenting  severity  of  the  sen- 
tence. Let  me  ask  the  advocates  for  the  exclusive  system  whether  they 
would  be  moved  for  a  moment  to  extend  their  indulgence  to  a  solitary 
individual  who  differed  from  them  on  the  subject  of  baptism,  although  he 
was  so  circumstanced  as  to  render  a  union  with  other  classes  of  Chris 
tians  impossible? 

This  writer  affirms  it  is  not  intended  as  a  punishment  by  the  Baptists, 
and  strongly  remonstrates  against  the  confounding  it  with  the  sentence 
of  excommunication  on  account  of  immoral  delinquency.  He  concurs 
with  the  author  of  Terms  of  Communion  in  admitting  that  in  these  in- 
stances its  "  accordance  with  the  jnoral  nature  of  man  may  and  does 
give  it  authority  and  weight ;  in  such  an  instance  as  the  incestuous  per- 
son at  Corinth  it  becomes  an  instrument  of  punishment.  He  was  in 
the  church,  and  could  be  expelled  from  it.  But  which  way  the  cen- 
sure or  punishment  of  excommunication  and  expulsion  can  take  place 
in  one  who  never  was  in  a  society,  the  strict  Baptists,"  he  tells  us, 
"have  yet  to  learn."* 

In  reply  to  this  I  shall  not  descend  to  a  tedious  logomachy,  iurtner 
than  just  to  remark  that  this  writer  has,  on  this  occasion,  fallen  into  a 
similar  error  respecting  the  meaning  of  words  with  his  former.  Ex- 
communication is  synonymous  with  exclusion,  and  is  defined  by  the 
highest  authority,  "  an  ecclesiastical  interdict ;  exclusion  from  the 
fellowship  of  the  church."!  The  punishment  it  involves  is  exactly 
proportioned  to  the  value  of  the  privilege  it  withholds  ;  and  therefore,  to 
affirm  that  it  is  not  a  punishment  is  equivalent  to  the  assertion  that  the 
fellowship  of  the  church  is  not  a  benefit.  To  withhold  privileges  and 
immunities  from  him  who  is  legally  entitled  to  their  possession  must 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  60.  t  See  Johnson. 


476  RKPLV  TO  KEV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

oe  supposed  to  be  ttU  with  a  severity  proportioned  to  the  justice  of  his 
title,  and  the  nia-initude  and  extent  of  his  privations. 

By  refusing  to  achnit  a  Pedobaptist  to  the  privilege  of  communion 
with  us,  we  in  fact  allirm  his  inc.-ompetence  to  commune  anywhere  ; 
we  deprive  him,  as  far  as  our  inlhience  extends,  of  all  the  advantages 
which  result  from  the  fellowship  of  the  saints;  and  that  he  is  not  re- 
duced to  the  situation  of  an  outcast  and  an  exile  from  the  church  is  in 
no  degree  to  be  imputed  to  the  lenity  of  our  decision,  but  to  the  limita- 
tion of  our  power.  It  is  surely  not  necessary  to  multiply  words  to 
prove  that  the  equity  of  every  judicial  sentence  must  be  ascertained  by 
considering  it  as  it  is  in  itself,  by  explormg  its  tendency,  not  by  ad- 
verting to  a  fortuitous  concurrence  of  circumstances,  which  may  possibly 
mitigate  or  extinguish  the  evils  with  wliich  it  is  fraught.  In  the  present 
instance,  we  must,  in  order  to  form  an  accurate  judgment,  make  the 
supposition,  that  the  sentence  of  excommunication  actually  operates  in 
its  full  extent,  so  as  to  deprive  the  subject  of  it  of  all  the  consolation 
and  benefit  resulting  from  the  union  of  Christians ;  we  must  suppose 
that  no  asylum  is  left  to  which  he  can  retreat,  no  community  remaining 
where  he  can  hide  his  humiliation  and  his  shame.  For  diat  there  is 
any  is  solely  to  be  ascribed  to  the  prevalence  of  a  system  which  our 
opponents  are  accustomed  to  stigmatize  as  erroneous,  and  for  the  exist- 
ence of  which  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  therefore  they  will  assume  to 
themselves  the  smallest  credit.  Let  us  imagine,  what  Mr.  Kinghorn 
will,  probably,  be  among  the  first  to  anticipate,  that  the  sentiments  of  the 
Baptists  triumphed  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  embraced  by  dissenting 
churches  in  general,  and  that  the  opposite  views  were  retained  only  by 
a  few  individuals  ;  let  us  suppose  one  of  the  latter  description  to  possess 
the  zeal,  the  humility,  the  devotion  of  a  Brainerd,  and  that,  on  account 
of  his  being  unable  to  perceive  the  nullity  of  infant  baptism,  he  was 
shut  out  from  every  religious  society  within  his  reach,  though  acknow- 
ledged to  possess' an  elevation  of  character  which  threw  the  virtues 
of  others  into  the  shade ;  would  there  be  no  hardship,  no  injustice  in 
this  case  ?  Would  it  be  sufficient  to  silence  the  murmurs  of  indignation 
to  remark,  that  it  was  not  intended  as  a  punishment,  that  he  had  no- 
thing to  complain  of;  for  "  as  he  was  never  in  the  church,  he  could  not 
be  expelled  fro7n  it  ?"  Would  such  cold  and  trivial  subtleties,  were 
they  as  correct  as  they  are  erroneous,  quell  the  instinctive  cry  of  justice, 
demanding  a  satisfactory  reason  for  placing  the  friend  and  the  enemy 
of  God,  the  devoted  servant  of  Christ  and  the  avowed  despiser  of  the 
great  salvation,  on  the  same  level,  and  comprehending  them  in  one  and 
the  same  sweeping  censure  ?  If  these  characters  are  totally  opposed, 
not  merely  by  the  contrast  exhibited  between  the  vices  of  the  world  and 
the  virtues  it  is  most  prone  to  admire,  but  in  consequence  of  the  pos- 
session by  one  of  the  parties  of  supernatural  and  sanctifying  grace, 
where  is  the  equity  of  confounding  them  together  by  the  interdict  of 
religious  privileges  ?  and  if  the  door  is  opened,  at  the  same  time,  for 
the  admission  into  the  church  of  persons  of  a  character  decidedly  inferior, 
how  can  impartial  justice  be  asserted  to  hold  the  scale,  and  determine 
the  merits  of  the  respective  candidates  ; — justice,  whose  office  it  is  to 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  477 

appreciate  the  rival  claims  of  competitors,  and  to  impart  to  every  one 
his  due  1  The  iniquity  of  such  a  mode  of  procedure  is  so  obvious  and 
striking,  that  it  is  no  wonder  we  find  our  opponents  exert  their  ingenuity 
to  the  utmost  in  attempting  to  palliate  and  disguise  it,  though  the  issue 
of  their  attempts  is  only  to  plunge  them  deeper  in  perplexity  and  contra- 
diction. 

The  author  of  Terms  of  Cominunion  had  remarked,  "  that  there 
was  no  difference  with  respect  to  the  present  inquiry  between  the 
refusal  of  a  candidate  and  the  expulsion  of  a  member,  since  nothing 
could  justify  the  former  of  these  measures  which  might  not  be  equally 
alleged  in  vindication  of  the  latter.  Both  amount  to  a  declaration  of  the 
parties  being  unworthy  to  communicate."  To  this  Mr.  Kinghorn 
replies  by  observing,  tliat  "  in  one  case  the  party  is  declared  unworthy 
from  7noral  delinquency ;  in  the  other  he  is  not  declared  unworthy,  but 
unqualified.''''  Here  it  is  plainly  conceded  that  Pedobaptists  are  not 
refused  on  a  moral  ground  ;  whence  it  necessarily  follows,  that  even 
supposing  they  were  acquitted  from  all  blame  in  practising  infant  bap- 
tism, their  exclusion  would  still  be  justifiable.  They  are  not  repelled 
from  the  sacrament,  it  seems,  on  account  of  any  breach  of  duty  of  which 
they  are  guilty ;  for  to  assert  this  would  be  to  contradict  himself,  by 
resting  their  exclusion  on  their  moral  delinquency.  They  incur  the 
forfeiture  of  all  the  privileges  of  the  church  for  no  fault  whatever ;  and 
whether  they  be  perfectly  free  from  blame  or  not  in  the  adoption  of  an 
unauthorized  rite  is  a  consideration  totally  foreign  to  the  question,  and 
it  is  not  to  be  taken  into  the  account  in  assigning  the  reasons  for  their 
non-admission.  Let  the  reader  seriously  ponder  this  extraordinary 
concession ;  let  him  ask  himself  whether  he  is  prepared  to  believe,  that, 
in  consistence  with  the  genius  of  the  gospel,  the  most  extensive  forfeiture 
of  religious  immunities  can  be  incurred  without  guilt,  and  the  heaviest 
ecclesiastical  censure  inflicted  on  the  innocent.  He  will  doubtless 
reject  such  a  supposition  with  unmingled  disgust :  he  will  feel  no  hesi- 
tation in  deciding  that  the  error  which  prohibits  a  church  from  recog- 
nising the  person  to  whom  it  is  ascribed  as  a  Christian,  which  Mr 
Kinghorn  expressly  applies  to  infant  baptism,  must  incur  a  high  degree 
of  culpability  in  the  eyes  of  him  who  judgeth  righteous  judgment. 

The  glaring  inconsistency  of  this  whole  statement  with  the  preceding 
assertions  of  the  same  writer  is  palpable  and  obvious.  He  entirely 
concurs  w'itli  Mr.  Booth  in  characterizing  Pedobaptists  as  persons 
"  who  do  not  revere  Christ's  authority,  submit  to  his  ordinances,  nor 
obey  the  laws  of  his  house."  But  will  he  attempt  to  distinguish  this  charge 
from  that  of  moral  delinquency  ?  Again,  quoting  the  declaration  of  St. 
Paul,  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God  consists  in  righteousness,  peace,  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  he  adds,  "  now  as  far  as  the  kingdom  of  God 
consists  in  righteousness,  it  must  include  obedience  to  practical  precepts, 
both  moral  and  positive.*  We  have  an  eminent  instance  of  submission 
to  John's  baptism  being  called  righteousness  by  our  Lord."  But  if  the 
Pedobaptists  are  justly  chargeable  with  want  of  righteousness,  and  on 
that  account  are  not  entitled  to  Christian  fellowship,  ;hey  must  certainly 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  s-  46. 


478  KEPIA'  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

be  exrhuloil  on  tho  grouiul  of  moral  delinquency.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  (leliciiMU'V  o(  righteousness  involved  in  tlie  practice  of  infant  bap- 
fisni  is  not  sullicient  to  justify  sucli  a  treatment,  the  reasoning  in  the 
above  passage  is  utterly  futile.  By  denying  that  they  are  excluded  on 
Uie  ground  of  moral  delinquency,  at  the  same  time  that  he  imputes  to 
them  conduct  highly  criminal,  he  has  involved  himself  in  inextricable 
dilVicuhies  ;  since,  supposing  it  could  be  proved  to  a  demonstration, that 
they  did  "not  revere  the  authority  of  Christ,"  &lc.,  he  has  deprived 
himself  of  the  power  of  urging  it  in  vindication  of  his  system,  by 
protesting  against  the  supposition  of  his  resting  its  operation  on  moral 
considerations.  But  if  no  guilt  is  implied  in  these  charges,  why  are 
they  adduced?  and  if  there  be,  how  is  that  to  be  distinguished  from 
moral  delinquency  ?  He  tells  us  they  are  not  unworthy,  but  only  dis- 
qualified;  whence  it  follows,  that,  in  his  opinion,  he  may  be  worthy 
of 'communion  who  "does  not  revere  the  authority  of  Christ;"  nor 
would  it  be  possible  to  dispute  his  title,  Avere  he  but  qualified. 

In  adopting  this  system,  he  professes  to  obey  the  directions  and  to 
imitate  the  conduct  of  the  Supreme  Legislator,  whom  he  affirms  not  to 
have  received  the  unbaptized  into  the  gospel  dispensation.  If  this 
profession  is  sincere,  he  surely  will  not  deny  that  it  is  his  intention  to 
proceed  on  the  same  grounds,  and  act  from  the  same  motive,  with  the 
great  Head  of  the  church. 

But  when,  by  refusing  to  admit  them  into  the  Christian  dispensation, 
he  virtually  declares  them  disqualified,  which  is  the  doctrine  of  this 
writer,  is  it  under  the  character  of  innocent  persons,  or  of  delinquents  ? 
Will  he  affirm  that  the  benefits  of  that  economy  are  withheld  from  any 
who  have,  by  no  act,  deserved  that  privation?  Is  the  sentence  by 
which  their  disqualification  is  incurred  capricious  and  arbitrary,  or  is 
It  merited  ?  To  say  it  is  not  Avould  be  impious  ;  and  to  affirm  that  it 
is  is  to  contradict  himself,  by  founding  it,  after  all,  on  moral  considera 
lions,  or,  which  is  perfectly  equivalent,  on  "  moral  delinquency." 

The  distinction,  then,  which  he  has  attempted  to  establish  between 
being  umvorthy  and  being  disqualified  is  perfectly  nugatory ;  and  the 
persons  to  whom  it  is  applied,  though  they  may  not  be  unworthy  in 
other  respects,  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  such,  on  account  of  that 
particular  instance  of  disobedience  for  which  they  are  disqualified. 
Their  disobedience  places  them  on  a  footing  with  other  classes  of 
delinquents,  by  shutting  them  out  from  the  communion  of  saints.  They 
incur  the  same  forfeiture,  and  for  the  same  general  reason,  want  of 
practical  compliance  with  the  will  of  Christ.  They  are  defective,  to 
use  this  author's  own  language,  in  the  righteousness  of  the  kingdom ; 
and,  though  they  possess  faith,  they  fail  in  exhibiting  obedience. 

The  objections  formerly  urged  against  this  system  consequently 
return  in  their  full  force.  Since  the  exclusion  of  Pedobaptists  must, 
after  every  possible  evasion,  be  founded  on  their  supposed  demerits, 
if  these  are  necessarily  and  intrinsically  equal  to  the  moral  iniperfections 
which  are  tolerated  in  Baptist  societies,  it  is  just.  If  among  the 
millions  who  have  practised  infant  baptism,  the  most  eminent  saint 
whom  past  ages  have  produced  is  to  be  considered  as  more  criminal  on 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  475 

that  account  than  the  crowd  of  imperfect  Christians  whom  we  admit 
without  scruple  into  our  churches,  the  charge  of  injustice  must  be 
reUnquishcd.  Unless  this  can  be  sustained,  it  remains  undiminished 
and  unimpaired. 

The  method  by  which  Mr.  Kinghorn  attempts  to  parry  this  reasoning 
IS  a  recurrence  to  his  old  sophism,  which  consists  of  confounding  toge- 
ther things  totally  distinct,  namely,  a  refusal  to  -partaltc  in  objectionable 
rites,  with  the  exclusion  of  such  as  embrace  them  from  our  communion. 
Here  he  takes  occasion  to  affirm  that  the  same  objection  may  be  made 
to  our  secession  from  the  Romish  as  from  the  established  church.* 

Did  we  repel  men  of  unquestionable  piety  on  account  of  their  avowed 
attachment  to  the  peculiarities  of  a  sect  or  party,  there  would  be  a  pro- 
priety in  identifying  our  practice  with  that  of  our  opponents  ;  for  in 
that  case  we  should  both  act  on  the  same  principle.  But  in  refusing  to 
join  in  a  communion,  accompanied  by  appendages  which  we  conscien 
tiously  disapprove,  we  proceed  on  a  totally  different  ground.  We  recede 
just  as  far  as  a  moral  necessity  dictates,  and  no  farther.  Nor  is  it  true, 
as  this  writer  asserts,  that  this  mode  of  proceeding  implies  as  severe  a 
censure  on  the  societies  from  which  we  dissent,  as  the  practice  which 
we  are  opposing  inflicts  on  Pedobaptists.  He  who  conceives  that  the 
posture  of  kneeling  is  an  unauthorized  innovation  on  the  pi'imitive  mode 
of  celebrating  the  Eucharist  must  necessarily  dissent  from  the  church 
which  prescribes  it :  but  will  it  be  affirmed  that  his  doing  so  implies  a 
conviction  that  the  adherents  to  that  rite  are  universally  disqualified  for 
fellov/ship,  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  be  acknowledged  Christians,  or 
that  they  are  so  deficient  in  the  righteousness  in  which  the  kingdom  of 
God  consists,  as  to  invalidate  their  profession,  and  exclude  them  from 
the  Christian  dispensation  ?  But  these  are  the  charges  urged  against 
the  Pedobaptists.  Let  the  smallest  error  imaginable  be  so  incorporated 
with  the  terms  of  communion,  that  an  explicit  assent  to  it  is  implied  in 
that  act ;  and  he  who  discerns  it  to  be  an  error  must,  if  he  is  conscien- 
tious, dissent,  and  establish  a  separate  communion :  but  are  there  any 
prepared  to  assert  that  this  is  precisely  the  same  thing  as  to  repel  the 
person  -who  embraces  it  from  the  Lord's  table  ?  I  am  weary  and 
ashamed  of  being  under  the  necessity  of  occupying  the  reader's  atten- 
tion with  the  exposure  of  such  obvious  fallacies.  Suffice  it  to  remark, 
once  for  all,  that  our  dissent  from  the  establishment  is  founded  on  the 
necessity  of  departing  from  a  communion  to  which  certain  corruptions, 
in  our  apprehension,  inseparably  adhere ;  while  we  welcome  the  pious 
part  of  that  community  to  that  celebration  of  the  Eucharist  which  we 
deem  unexceptionable.     We  recede  from  their  communion  from  neces- 

*  "  The  imposition  of  rites,"  says  Mr.  Kinghorn,  "  which  Chnst  has  not  commanded,  and  the  com 
bination  of  those  sentiments  with  the  structure  of  the  church,  which  we  think  injurious  to  its  nature 
and  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  Lord,  have  rendered  it  necessary  for  us  to  establish  a  separate  com- 
munion. Here  the  fact  is  that  we  (eel  ourselves  called  upon  to  say,  that  we  can  have  no  fellowship 
with  them  in  communion  at  the  Lord's  table.  On  this  ground  it  would  be  a  very  easy  thing  to  repre- 
sent the  conduct  of  Protestants  and  of  Protestant  dissenters  in  the  same  dark  colouring  as  Mr.  Hall 
lias  applied  to  the  strict  Baptists.  Let  a  man  of  talent  exclaim  against  them  for  departing  from  the 
irwec/iurcA,  and  represent  their  conduct  in  establishing  a  communion  of  their  own  as  declaring  in  the 
strongest  form  that  they  deem  others  unworthy  of  their  society,  mid  that  in  so  doing  Ihey  pronounce 
the  sentence  of  expulsion,  &c.,  and  he  will  do  no  more  than  Mr.  Hall  has  done  in  the  whole  of  this 
part  of  his  reasoning." — Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  63. 


480  RKPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

sity,  but  we  lecl  no  scruple  in  adinittin<r  tliem  to  ours;  wliile  our  strict 
brclluTU  reject  tlieiii,  as  well  as  every  other  description  of  Petlohaptists, 
aliosiether.  On  liini  who  has  not  discernment  to  perceive,  or  candour 
to  acknowledge,  the  dillerencc  between  these  nictliods  of  proceeding,  all 
further  reasoning  would  be  wasted. 

One  more  evasion  must  be  noticed  before  we  conclude  this  part  of  the 
subject.  "  The  Pedobaptists  are  represented  as  cliargeable  Aviili  nothing 
more  than  a  misconception  of  the  nature  of  a  positive  institute.  But 
this,  it  is  observed,  is  iiot  the  question  before  us :  the  present  contro- 
versy relates  to  the  institute  itself.  It  is  not  whellier  the  members  of 
a  church  have  fully  and  properly  conceived  the  nature  of  the  institute 
to  wliich  they  have  submitted.  If  this  were  the  case,  we  might  be 
represented  as  expelling  the  ignorant  and  the  weak,  instead  of  instruct- 
ing and  encouraging  them.  But  it  is,  whether  an  institute  delivered  by 
Christ  is  to  be  maintamed,  or  to  be  given  up."* 

To  this  I  reply.  The  advocates  of  infant  baptism  are  either  sincerely 
of  opinion  that  the  rite  in  question  ought  to  be  extended  to  infonts,  or 
they  are  guilty  of  prevarication.  If  there  be  any  of  the  last  descrip- 
tion to  be  found,  they  are  entirely  out  of  the  question ;  for,  supposing 
their  character  ascertained,  they  have  never  been  contemplated  as  proper 
objects  of  toleration.  With  respect  to  the  former,  who  sincerely  believe 
it  was  the  intention  of  oyr  Lord  to  extend  the  rite  of  baptism  to  the 
infant  seed  of  believers,  is  it  possible  for  them  to  act  otherwise  than 
they  do  1  With  what  then  are  they  chargeable,  except  with  a  miscon- 
ception of  a  positive  institute  ?  And  if  we  are  not  to  repel  tlie  ignorant 
and  the  weak,  we  must  either  affirm  that  they  are  not  ignorant  in  this 
particular,  and  thus  accuse  them,  contrary  to  the  supposition  of  wilful 
prevarication,  or  we  must  tolerate  them.  Though  we  are  far  from 
insinuating  that  our  Pedobaptist  brethren  are  in  general  either  ignorant 
or  weak,  yet  as  ignorance  and  weakness  are  undoubtedly  adequate  to 
the  production  of  any  }nisconception,  on  the  subject  of  religion  not  fun- 
damental, they  will  consequently  account  for  the  error  which  has  given 
birth  to  infant  baptism  ;  and  just  as  far  as  it  is  capable  of  being  ascribed 
to  this  source,  its  abetters  are,  by  our  author's  concession,  objects  of 
forbearance.  And  since  there  is  no  medium,  but  all  Pedobaptists,  how- 
ever discerning  in  other  respects,  must  either  be  supposed  ignorant  in 
this  particular,  or  to  prevaricate,  forbearance  must  be  extended  to  as 
man^  of  them  as  are  deemed  sincere  ;  beyond  which  we  are  as  unwill- 
ing to  extend  it  as  he  is.  While  they  entertain  their  present  views  on 
the  subject  of  baptism,  they  must  either  administer  it  to  infants,  or 
violate  the  dictates  of  conscience  ;  and  therefore,  if  they  are  cliargeable 
with  any.  thing  more  than  a  misconception,  the  matter  of  that  charge 
must  be  deduced  from  their  acting  like  upright  men ;  an  accusation 
which  we  hope,  for  the  honour  of  human  nature,  will  proceed  from  none 
but  strict  Baptists. 

The  sum  of  what  has  been  advanced  on  this  head  is,  that  the  priva- 
tion of  communion  is  an  evil  exactly  proportioned  to  the  value  of  that 
benefit ;  that  as  far  as  the  tendency  of  the  exclusive  system  is  con 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  65. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  jgi 

cernetl,  and  to  the  utmost  power  of  its  abetters,  the  evil  is  extended  to 
every  denomination  except  one  ;  that  it  is  either  inflicted  on  account  of 
moral  delinquency  or  is  utterly  unmerited  ;  since,  if  that  ground  be  relin- 
quished, their  exclusion  must  be  asserted  to  be  just,  even  supposing 
them  perfecdy  innocent ;  that  whatever  Maine  may  be  imputed  bears 
no  proportion  to  tiiat  which  incurs  the  forfeiture  of  the  same  privilege 
in  other  instances ;  nor  to  the  faults  and  imperfections  which  are  daily 
tolerated  without  scruple ;  and,  finally,  since  the  practice  which  is 
treated  with  so  much  severity  is  the  necessary  result  of  a  misconcep- 
tion of  the  nature  of  a  positive  institute,  which  is  only  another  name 
for  ignorance  or  weakness  in  that  particular,  to  make  it  the  pretext  of 
expulsion  or  excommunication  is  repugnant  to  the  maxims  even  of  our 
opponents. 


CHAPTER  X. 

On  the  Contrariety  of  the  Maxims  and  Sentiments  of  the  Advocates  of 
Strict  Communion  to  those  which  prevailed  in  the  early  Ages;  in 
which  the  Innovation  imputed  to  them  by  the  Author  is  vindicated 
from  the  Charge  of  Misrepresentation. 

In  order  to  comprehend  the  true  state  of  the  question,  as  it  respects 
the  practice  of  Christian  antiquity,  it  may  be  convenient  to  distribute  it 
into  three  periods ;  the  first  including  the  time  during  which  correct 
sentiments  on  the  subject  of  baptism  universally  prevailed  ;  the  second 
that  in  which  a  gradual  transition  was  made  from  the  practice  of  adult 
to  that  of  infant  baptism ;  the  third  the  period  in  which  the  latter  ob- 
tained a  general  and  almost  undisputed  ascendency. 

On  the  first  of  these  periods  little  need  be  said.  Where  there  are 
no  digsimilar  elements,  there  can  be  no  mixture  ;  and  therefore  to  affirm 
that  the  practice  we  are  contending  -for  was  unknown  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  the  Christian  church  is  little  more  than  an  identical  proposition. 
While  no  demur  or  dispute  subsisted  respecting  either  the  form  or  the 
application  of  the  baptismal  rite,  a  punctual  compliance  with  it  was 
expected  and  enforced  by  the  presidents  of  Christian  societies,  for  pre 
cisely  the  same  reason  which  suggested  a  similar  mode  of  proceeding 
to  the  apostles.  It  was  a  part  of  the  will  of  Christ,  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  which  no  division  of  opinions  subsisted  among  the  faithful.  The 
next  period  is  that  during  which  an  innovation  was  gradually  introduced 
by  extending  the  ceremony  in  question  to  infants — a  period  which,  from 
the  commencement  of  the  third  unto  the  close  of  the  fourth,  probably 
comprehended  the  space  of  two  centuries.  Supposing  the  modern 
practice  to  have  been  first  introduced  towards  the  end  of  the  second  or 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century,  which  corresponds  to  the  time  at 
which  it  is  distinctly  noticed  by  TertuUian,  the  first  writer  who  expli- 
citly mentions  it,  we  cannot  suppose  a  shorter  space  was  requisite  to 
procure  it  that  complete  establishment  and  ascendency  which  it  pos- 
sessed in  the  time  of  St.  Austin.     During  that  long  interval,  there  must 

Vol.  I.— H  h 


482  RKPI.Y  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

have  l)ccn  some  who  still  adhered  to  the  primitive  practice,  and  others 
who  favoured  and  adopted  the  more  recent  innovations ;  there  mu&t,  in 
other  words,  have  been  Baptists  and  Pedobaptists  contemporary  with 
each  other.  What  became  of  that  portion  of  the  ancient  church  which 
refused  to  adopt  the  haptism  of  infants  ?  Did  they  separate  from  their 
brethren  in  order  to  form  distinct  and  exclusive  societies  ?  Of  this  not 
the  faintest  trace  or  vestige  is  to  be  found  in  ecclesiastical  history  ;  and 
the  sup{)Osition  is  completely  confuted  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
ancient  writers  to  the  universal  incorporation  of  orthodox  Christiana 
into  one  grand  community.  We  challenge  our  opponents  to  produce 
the  shadow  of  evidence  in  favour  of  the  existence  during  that  long  tract 
of  time  of  a  single  society  of  which  adult  baptism  was  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristic.  TerluUian,  it  is  acknowledged,  is  the  first  who  dis- 
tinctly and  unequivocally  adverts  to  the  contrary  practice :  and  as  he 
expresses  disapprobation  of  it  at  the  same  time,  without  the  remotest 
intimation  of  the  propriety  of  making  it  the  ground  of  separation,  he 
must  be  allowed  to  form  one  instance  of  the  practice  of  mixed  com- 
munion ;  and  unless  we  are  disposed  to  assert  that  the  modern  innova- 
tion in  the  rite  of  baptism  supplanted  the  original  ordinance  at  once, 
multitudes  must  have  been  in  precisely  the  same  situation.  We  well 
know,  that  in  the  latter  period  of  his  life  he  did  secede  from  the  ortho- 
dox Catholic  church,  but  we  are  equally  certain  that  he  was  moved  to 
this  measure,  not  by  his  disapprobation  of  infant  baptism,  but  solely 
by  his  attachment  to  the  Montanists. 

We,  therefore,  offer  our  opponents  the  alternative  either  of  affirming 
that  the  transition  from  the  primitive  to  the  modern  usage  w-as  sudden 
and  instantaneous,  in  opposition  to  all  that  observation  suggests  re- 
specting the  operations  of  mind,  or  of  acknowledging  that  for  two  cen- 
turies the  predecessors  of  the  present  Baptists  unanimously  approved 
and  practised  a  mixed  communion — a  communion  in  which  Baptists 
and  Pedobaptists  united  in  the  same  societies. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  system  we  are  advocatmg,  instead  of  being, 
as  Booth  and  Kanghorn  assert,  a  "  modern  invention,"  was  introduced 
as  early  as  it  was  possible — as  early  as  the  dissimilar  materials  ex- 
isted of  which  the  combination  under  discussion  is  formed.  It  is 
evident  that  no  sooner  did  a  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism arise  than  the  system  of  forbearance  recommended  itself  at  once 
to  all  who  adhered  to  the  sentiments  of  the  modern  Baptists  throughout 
every  part  of  the  world;  and  that  it  is  the  opposite  principle  which 
has  to  contend  with  all  the  odium  and  suspicion  attached  to  recent 
innovations. 

When  we  descend  to  the  third  period  w-e  are  presented  with  a  new 
scene.  After  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  century  down  to  the  era 
of  the  Reformation,  the  baptism  of  infants  was  firmly  established,  and 
prevailed  to  such  an  extent  that  few  traces  of  the  ordinance  in  its  primi- 
tive state  are  to  be  discerned.  Many  of  the  Waldenses,  however,  are 
judged  with  great  appearance  of  evidence  to  have  held  opinions  on  that 
subject  coincident  with  those  by  which  we,  as  a  denomination,  are  dis- 
tinguished. By  their  persecutors  of  the  Romish  community  they  are 
usually  stigmatized  and  reproached  for  holding  the  Anabaptist  heresy 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  483 

While  it  appears,  oh  the  contrarj',  that  there  were  not  wanting  some 
among  them  who  practised  the  baptism  of  infants.*  These  opposite 
statements,  exhibited  with  equal  confidence  on  this  obscure  branch  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  are  best  reconciled  and  accounted  for  by  sup- 
posing them  divided  in  their  sentiments  on  that  particular.  No  indica- 
tion, however,  is  discoverable  of  a  rupture  in  external  communion  having 
occurred  on  that  account ;  and  from  the  acknowledged  difficulty  of  as- 
certaining the  separate  existence  of  Baptist  societies  during  the  middle 
ages,  and  until  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  the  necessary  inference 
is,  either  that  there  were  none  during  that  interval  who  adhered  to  the 
primitive  institute,  or,  as  is  far  more  probable,  that  they  were  mingled 
and  incorporated  with  persons  of  another  persuasion. 

Hence  it  is  manifest  that  the  concurrent  testimonies  of  the  fathers  ot 
the  first  three  or  four  centuries,  in  proof  of  the  necessity  of  baptism  to 
church-fellowship,  are  urged  to  no  purpose  whatever,  unless  it  could  be 
shown  that  there  was  no  mixed  communion,  no  association  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  adult  with  the  patrons  of  pedobaptism  known  in  those  ages  ; 
a  supposition  which  is  at  direct  variance  with  facts.  Nor  is  it  at  all 
difficult  to  assign  a  satisfactory  reason  for  that  combination  of  testimo- 
nies which  the  writings  of  the  fathers  supply  in  favour  of  the  essential 
connexion  of  the  two  ordinances.  The  scanty  writings  which  remain 
of  the  authors  of  the  second  century  affiDrd  no  decisive  indication  of  the 
existence  of  infant  baptism  in  the  period  in  which  they  flourished  :  and 
during  the  third  the  few  authors  whose  works  have  descended  to  us 
appear,  with  the  exception  of  TertuUian,  to  have  imbibed  the  Pedobap- 
tist  persuasion.  It  was  natural  for  the  first  class  .of  these  fathers,  who 
lived  at  a  time  when  no  doubt  or  dispute  had  arisen  on  the  subject,  to 
insist  on  a  compliance  with  that  ordinance  ;  nor  was  it  possible  for  the 
second,  who  extended  baptism  to  infants,  and  considered  it  as  the  indis- 
pensable means  of  regeneration,  to  pursue  another  course. 

That  there  was  a  mixture  of  persons  of  different  persuasions  in  Chris- 
tian societies  during  the  period  to  which  we  have  adverted  appears  to 
be  an  unquestionable  fact ;  but  in  what  manner  those  who  adhered  to 
the  primitive  institution  reasoned  on  the  subject,  as  the)^  have  left  no 
writings  behind  them,  or  none  which  touch  on  this  subject,  must  be  left 
to  conjecture.  Whether  they  defended  their  conduct  on  precisely  the 
same  principles  with  ourselves,  or  whether  they  considered  pedobap- 
tism as  not  so  properly  nullifying  as  corrupting  or  enfeebling  a  Christian 
ordinance,  it  is  to  little  purpose  to  inquire.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know 
that  the  practice  which  is  stigmatized  as  modern  existed  as  early  as  a 
difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  arose. 

In  my  former  treatise  I  had  remarked,  "that  the  decision  of  Christian 
writers  that  baptism,  in  some  form  or  other,  must  necessarily  precede 
the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist,  supposing  it  ever  so  unanimous,  affords 
but  a  feeble  proof,  since  it  assumes  for  its  basis  the  impossibility  of  the 

*  See  Tlie  History  of  the  Bapf.ists,  by  Mr.  Ivimey,  in  which  this  subject  is  discussed  with  much 
care  and  impartiality.  To  those  who  wish  for  information  respecting  many  curious  and  important 
circumstances,  connected  with  the  progress  of  the  Baptist  opinions,  1  would  earnestly  recommend  the 
perusal  of  that  valuable  work ;  for  which  the  public  at  large,  and  our  own  denomination  in  particular, 
are  much  indebted  to  the  pious  and  laborious  ;iutlior. 

Hh  2 


J84  REPIA    TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

universal  prevalence  of  error."  The  truth  of  this  assertion  is  almost 
seif-eviileni  ;  for  if  it  be  possible  lor  error  to  prevail  nniversallv,  what 
shoiilil  prevent  the  possi])ilitv  of  its  doiiig  so  in  this  particular  instance? 
"No,"  says  our  author,  "it  assumes  a  very  dilVerent  principle  ;  thai  the 
human  mind  in  all  its  wanderings  never  took  this  direction  before."* 
But  what  is  the  dill'erence  l)ctween  affirming  that  the  opinion  which 
separates  the  title  to  communion  from  baptism  was  iniknown  until  it 
was  adopted  bv  the  advocates  of  mixed  communion,  and  asserting  "that 
the  human  mind  never  took  this  direction  before  ?"  Are  they  any  tiling 
more  than  two  diilerenl  modes  of  expressing  the  same  proposition  1  To 
say  then  that  the  argument  in  question  assumes  for  its  basis  "  that  the 
human  mind  never  took  this  direction  before,"  is  to  say  that  it  assumes 
to  itself  a  method  of  reasoning  most  repugnant  to  the  rules  of  logic, 
however  familiar  with  this  writer. 

He  feels  very  indignant  at  my  affirming  that  the  right  of  excluding 
persons  of  unquestionable  worth  and  piety  w^as  never  claimed  by  anti- 
quity. In  opposition  to  this  he  adduces  the  example  of  Cyprian,  who 
insisted  on  the  rcbaptization  of  heretics  and  schismatics  previous  to 
their  reception  into  the  body  of  the  faithful.  If  it  be  considered,  how- 
ever, in  what  light  heretics  and  schismatics  were  contemplated  by  that 
celebrated  father,  the  objection  vanishes  ;  since  no  doubt  can  be  enter- 
tained that  their  preceding  profession  of  Christianity  was  considered  by 
him  as  a  mere  nullity,  their  faith  fundamentally  erroneous,  the  privileges 
they  supposed  themselves  to  possess  a  vain  illusion,  and  the  entire 
system  of  their  religion  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  tind 
him  everywhere  exerting  his  utmost  powers  of  language,  which  were 
by  no  means  inconsiderable,  in  stigmatizing  their  character  and  de- 
grading their  pretensions.  Having  little  taste  for  quotation,  the  following 
passages  may  suffice  to  convince  the  reader  under  what  opprobrious 
colours  he  was  accustomed  to  represent  that  description  of  professors. 
It  is  proper  just  to  premise,  that  on  their  manifesting  a  disposition  to 
return  to  the  Catholic  church,  while  Cyprian  contended  for  the  necessity 
of  their  being  rebaptized  before  they  were  admitted,  his  opponent,  Ste- 
phen, insisted  on  the  sufficiency  of  recantation,  accompanied  with  the 
imposition  of  hands,!  without  reiterating  a  rite  which  he  concluded  could 
not  be  repeated  without  profanation.  The  latter  opinion,  in  spite  of 
the  high  authority  of  the  African  father,  being  confirmed  by  the  council 
of  Nice,  became  the  received  doctrine  of  the  church,  and  the  opposite 
tenet  was  finally  denounced  as  heresy.  But  to  return  to  Cyprian : — 
"  We,"  said  he,  "  affirm,"  referring  to  the  Novatians,  who  were  esteemed 
schismatics,  "that  those  Avho  come  to  us  are  not  rebaptized,  but  bap- 
tized. For  neither  do  they  receive  any  thing  where  there  is  nothing ; 
but  they  come  to  us  that  they  ma)'  receive  here  where  all  grace  and 
truth  is."|  After  stigmatizing  the  baptism  of  schismatics  as  "  a  filthy 
and  profane  dipping,"  he  complains  that  certain  of  his  colleagues  "  did 
not  consider  that  it  was  written.  He  who  is  baptized  by  the  dead,  what 
profit  does  he  derive  from  his  washing?  But  it  is  manifest  that  they 
who  are  not  in  the  church  are  numbered  among  the  dead,  and  caimot 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  145. 

t  Cypriani  Epistola,  p.  210.    Oxonii.  anno  10S2.  J  Ibid.  p.  194. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  4^5 

possibly  be  quickened  by  him  who  is  not  alive  ;  since  there  is  one  only 
church,  which,  having  obtained  the  grace  of  eternal  life,  both  lives  for 
ever  and  quickens  the  people  of  God."* 

Speaking  of  heretics,  he  makes  a  distinction  between  such  as,  having 
been  members  of  the  Catholic  church,  fell  into  heresy  for  a  time,  but 
were  afterward  recovered,  and  such  as  sprang  originally  from  them. 
With  respect  to  the  latter  he  says,  "  If  he  who  comes  from  the  heretics 
has  not  been  before  baptized  in  the  church,  but  comes  entirely  alien  and 
profane,  he  is  to  be  baptized  that  he  may  become  a  sheep,  because  the 
only  holy  water  which  can  make  sheep  is  in  the  church."  In  another 
epistle  we  find  him  reasoning  in  the  following  manner: — "The  very 
interrogation,"  he  says,  "  which  takes  place  in  baptism  bears  witness  to 
the  truth.  Dost  thou  believe  in  eternal  life  and  the  remission  of  sins 
by  the  holy  church  ?  We  mean  by  it  that  the  remission  of  sins  is  given 
only  in  the  church  ;  but  among  heretics,  where  the  church  is  not,  sins 
cannot  be  remitted.  Let  them,  therefore,  who  plead  for  heretics  (that 
is,  for  their  admission  into  the  church  without  rebaptizing)  either  alter 
the  interrogation  or  vindicate  the  truth,  unless  they  are  disposed  to 
give  the  appellation  of  the  church  to  those  whom  they  assert  to  possess 
true  baptism."! 

His  epistles  are  full  of  similar  sentiments.  What  resemblance,  let 
me  ask,  are  they  perceived  to  bear  to  the  principles  on  which  strict 
communion  is  founded  ;  or  who  will  be  so  absurd  as  to  affirm  that  the 
example  of  Cyprian,  in  rejecting  the  communion  of  pei'sons  whom  he 
esteemed  spiritually  dead,  and  incapacitated  for  receiving  the  remission 
of  sins,  affords  the  least  countenance  for  treating  in  a  similar  manner 
such  as  are  acknowledged  to  possess  the  most  eminent  and  exalted 
piety  ?  "  True,"  Mr.  Kinghorn  replies,  "  but  when  they  requested 
admission  into  the  Catholic  orthodox  church,  they  had  ceased  to  be 
heretics  or  schismatics,  since  they  left  the  societies  where  heresy  was 
professed,  acknowledged  their  former  error,  and  requested  to  be 
numbered  with  the  orthodox.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  Cyprian 
insisted  on  their  being  rebaptized."J  But  why  did  he  insist  upon  it  ? 
He  tells  us  himself,  it  was  because  "  they  had  received  nothing,  they 
were  baptized  by  the  dead  ;"  they  wanted  "  that  holy  water  peculiar  to 
the  church  which  alone  can  vivify  :"  and  their  pretended  baptism,  or,  to 
use  his  own  words,  "  their  profane  dipping,"  was  necessarily  unaccom- 
panied with  the  remission  of  sins.  In  short,  however  well  they  might 
be  disposed  and  prepared,  on  the  application  of  due  means,  for  the 
reception  of  the  highest  benefits,  they  were,  as  yet,  in  his  estimation, 
in  a  state  of  unregeneracy.  Hence  the  reader  may  judge  of  the  perti- 
nence and  correctness  of  the  subsequent  remark : — "  Their  interest  in 
the  blessings  of  the  Christian  covenant,"  says  Mr.  Kinghorn,  "  was  not 
doubted,  yet  their  right  to  the  Lord's  Supper  was  doubted,  because  the 
validity  of  their  baptism  was  questioned."^  ''  Their  interest  in  the 
blessings  of  the  covenant  was  not  doubted,^''  although  Cyprian  declares 
his  conviction,  that  they  had  received  nothing,  that  tlieir  baptism  was  a 
nullity,  that  they  wanted  the  only  water  which  could  quicken,  and  that, 

*  Cypriani  Knistolse,  p.  194.  t  Ibid. 

X  Baplio...  -    erm  of  Communion,  p.  152.  §  Ibid.  B.  154. 


486  KKl'IA'  TO  KKV.  JOSEPH  KINGKORN- 

instead  of  it,  tliov  h;ul  received  only  a  "  sordid  and  profane  dipping, 
whifh  could  not  possibly  be  accompanied  M'ith  the  remission  of  sins." 

The  rt'iuler  will  be  at  no  loss  to  determine  which  of  us  is  jnslly 
chariicable"  with  "takino-  the  j)resent  state  of  oj)inion,  and  of  applyino 
it  to  former  ages,"  when  he  perceives  that  ray  opponent  is  so  possessed 
with  these  ideas  as  to  be  utterly  incapable  of  contemplating  the  senti- 
ments of  Cyprian  through  the  right  medium.  He  entirely  forgets  the 
importance  he  attached  to  baptism  as  a  regenerating  ordinance,  and 
his  denial  tluit  the  persons  of  whom  he  was  treating  had  received  it ; 
Mhich,  combined  together,  must  necessarily  hrive  placed  them,  in  his 
estimation,  at  the  utmost  remove  from  the  situation  in  which  pious 
Pedobaptists  are  at  present  considered. 

His  opponent,  Stephen,  contended  for  the  propriety  of  receiving 
them  without  a  repetition  of  that  rite,  because  he  already  conceived 
it  had  been  truly  and  solidly  performed  ;  this  Cyprian  denied,  and  the 
only  question  in  debate  respected  the  validity  of  a  ceremony  which 
both  equally  esteemed  to  be  the  necessary  means  of  regeneration. 
Upon  the  principles  common  to  both,  the  African  father  reasoned  with 
most  consistency :  for  how  could  heretics  and  schismatics,  who  were 
acknowledged  to  be  spiritually  dead,  communicate  life  by  the  perform- 
ance of  a  ceremony  ?  and  how  totally  incongruous  to  suppose  every 
part  of  their  religious  service  devoid  of  vitality  and  force  except  their 
baptism,  by  which,  as  Cyprian  continually  urges,  they  were  supposed 
to  confer  that  renovating  spirit  which,  in  every  other  instance,  they 
were  denied  to  possess.  But  whatever  judgment  may  be  formed  of 
the  merits  of  this  controversy,  nothing  can  be  more  mipertinent  to  the 
question  at  issue  between  my  opponent  and  myself,  which  is  simply, 
whether  the  refusal  to  admit  persons  of  unquestioned  piety  into  the 
church  w^as  the  doctrine  of  the  ancient  fathers.  In  proof  of  this,  he 
alleges  the  example  of  Cyprian,  Avho  contended  for  the  necessity  of 
rebaptizing  such  as  had  been  already  reclaimed  from  heresy  and  schism. 
Now,  if  Cyprian's  ideas  on  the  subject  of  baptism  had  been  the  same. 
or  in  any  degree  similar  to  those  which  are  at  present  entertained,  the 
objection  would  have  been  forcible ;  but  when  we  learn  from  his  own 
mouth  that  his  demand  was  founded  on  their  not  having  been  "  quick- 
ened," on  their  wanting  "  the  water  of  life,"  on  their  not  having 
approached  the  fountain  of  renovation  and  pardon ;  in  a  word,  on 
their  still  remaining  unregenerate ;  what  can  be  conceived  more  futile 
than  to  adduce  his  authority  for  refusing  a  class  of  persons  to  whom, 
it  is  acknowledged,  none  of  these  objections  apply?  Let  us  first  insist 
on  the  admission  of  those  whom  we  believe  to  be  destitute  of  regene- 
ration and  pardon,  and  we  must  dispose  of  the  authority  of  Cyprian  as 
we  can ;  but,  till  that  is  the  case,  however  we  difFei  from  him  in  its 
application,  we  act  on  one  and  the  same  principle. 

Mr.  Kinghorn  is  very  anxious  to  prevent  his  readers  from  being  led 
to  suppose,  from  certain  passages  I  had  quoted,  that  Cyprian  was  a 
friend  to  mixed  communion.  If  he  means  by  this  that  he  was  not  dis 
posed  to  admit  into  the  church  such  as  were,  on  all  hands,  acknowleoged 
to  be  unbaptized,  his  opinion  is  undoubtedly  correct ;  nothing  was 
more  remote  from  my  intention  than  to  insinuate  the  contrary.     But  if 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  437 

jt  is  Iiis  intention -to  affirm  tliut  Cyprian  was  averse  to  the  mixture  ">f 
Baptists  and  Pedobaptists  at  the  Lord's  table,  he  must  bo  supposed  to 
assert  that  there  were  none  in  his  communion  who  adhered  to  what  we 
conceive  the  primitive  institute  ;  and,  considering  the  extensive  influence 
which  he  derived  from  his  station  as  metropohtan  of  Africa,  and  the 
celebrity  of  his  character  ;  this  is  equivalent  to  an  admission  that  it 
had  totally  disappeared  from  that  province  as  early  as  the  middle  of 
the  third  century ;  a  dangerous  concession,  as  well  as  a  most  improb- 
able supposition.  It  is  to  suppose  that  a  corruption  (as  we  must 
necessarily  deem  it)  of  a  Christian  ordinance,  the  explicit  mention  of 
which  iirst  occurs  but  fifty  years  before,  had  already  spread  with  such 
rapidity  through  Africa  as  to  efface  every  trace  and  relic  of  the  primi- 
tive practice.  It  is  unnecessary  to  observe  the  important  advantage 
wliich  such  a  concession  would  yield  in  the  controversy  with  Pedo- 
baptists. The  truth  is,  that  unless  we  are  disposed  to  admit  that  the 
baptism  of  infants  had  already  totally  supplanted  the  original  ordinance 
throughout  the  Catholic  church,  Cyprian  must  be  allowed  to  have  patron- 
isetl  mixed  communion  in  precisely  the  same  sense  in  which  it  is 
countenanced  at  present  by  our  Pedobaptist  brethren. 

This  may  suffice  to  rescue  me  from  the  charge  of  misrepresenting 
the  sentiments  of  Cyprian ;  an  accusation  which  excited  so  much  sur- 
prise, that  I  determined  to  reperuse  the  epistles  of  that  celebrated 
writer ;  but  after  carefully  reading  every  line,  I  must  solemnly  declare 
that  I  feel  at  a  loss  to  discover  a  shadow  of  ground  for  this  impu- 
tation. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  sentiments  of  Cyprian  only  that  I  am  charged 
with  misrepresenting ;  the  Donatists,  it  is  affirmed,  proceeded  on  the 
same  views,  when  they  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  rebaptizing  the 
members  of  the  Catholic  church.  "  They  acted,"  he  says,  "  exactly 
on  the  same  principle  which  Mr.  Hall  reprobates."  That  principle,  it 
is. unnecessary  to  repeat,  is  the  propriety,  not  of  baptizing  such  as  have 
been  induced  through  misconception  to  neglect  the  valid  performance 
of  that  rite,  which  is  our  uniform  practice,  but  the  exclusion  of  those 
against  whom  nothing  is  alleged  besides  the  invalidity  of  their  baptism. 
But  nothing  can  be  more  remote  from  the  ground  on  which  the  Donatists 
proceeded.  They  conceived  the  whole  Christian  world  contaminated 
by  their  communion  with  the  African  traditors  ;*  that  they  had  fallen 
into  a  state  of  deep  and  deadly  corruption,  and  so  far  were  they  from 
founding  the  separation  on  the  insufficiency  of  their  baptism,  that  they 
inferred  its  invalidity  solely  from  the  mortal  contagion  they  were  deemed 
to  have  contracted,  and  from  the  abominations  they  were  supposed  to 
tolerate. t  They  considered  the  church  of  Christ,  as  far  as  the 
Catholic  societies  were  concerned,  as  extinct ;  and  on  that  account 
were  vehemently  urged  by  St.  Austin  to  reconcile  their  hypo'thesis  with 
the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  "  that  in  his  seed  all  nations  of  the  earth 
should  be  blessed."     But  will  any  Pedobaptist  be  found  so  absurd  as  to 

*  Those  who  delivered  up  the  sacred  writings. 

t  "Dicit  enimParmenianus,  hinc  probari  consceleratum  fuisse  orbem  terrarum  criminibus  tradk 
tionis,  et  aliorum  sacrilegiorum :  quia  cum  multa  alia  fuerint  tempore  perseculionis  admissa,  nulla 
propterea  facta  est  in  ipsis  provinciis  separalio  populorum."— Co/ifra  Epistolam  Parmeniani. 
Hugiistini,  lib.  i. 


488  UKl'LY  TO  KEV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

press  the  advocates  of  strict  coinimuiion  with  a  similar  argument! 
And  will  it,  afior  this,  be  contended  that  the  conduct  of  the  Donatists,  in 
refusing  to  ailmit  the  baptism  of  men  whom  they  viewed  as  pkinged  in 
a  state  of  hopeless  degeneracy,  bears  any  resemblance  to  the  conduct 
of  those  wiu)  repel  such  as  they  affect  to  regard  as  the  most  excellent 
of  the  earth  ? 

This  w  riter  is  highly  offended  with  my  presuming  to  express  a  con- 
viction that  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  have  violated  more 
maxims  of  antiquity  than  any  other  sect  upon  record.  The  extent  to 
which  they  have  carried  their  deviation  in  one  particular  is  already 
sufficiently  obvious.  Mr.  Kinghorn  was  challenged  to  produce  an 
instance  of  an  ancient  father  who  contended  for  the  right  of  repelling 
a  genuine  Christian  from  the  Eucharist.  He  adduced  the  example  of 
Cyprian,  and  of  the  Donatists ;  and  by  this  time  we  presume  the  intel- 
ligent reader  is  at  no  loss  to  perceive  how  completely  these  instances 
have  failed. 

A  writer  of  his  undisputed  learning  would,  doubtless,  select  the 
strongest  case  ;  we  may  therefore,  until  he  fortifies  his  positions  better, 
venture  without  hesitation  to  enumerate,  among  other  deviations,  the 
pretended  right  of  excluding  such  as  are  acknowledged  to  be  genuine 
Christians.  In  ancient  times  the  limits  of  communion  were  supposed 
to  be  coextensive  with  those  of  visible  Christianity,  and  none  excluded 
from  the  Catholic  church  but  those  whom  that  church  deemed  heretics 
or  schismatics.  Our  opponents  proceed  on  an  opposite  principle  ;  they 
exclude  myriads  Avhom  they  would  not  dare  to  stigmatize  with  either 
appellation.  In  ancient  times  the  necessity  of  baptism  as  a  qualification 
for  communion  was  avowedly  and  uniformly  founded  on  its  supposed 
essential  connexion  with  salvation ;  our  opponents  have  totally  relin- 
quished that  ground,  yet  still  assert,  with  equal  vehemence,  the  same 
necessity,  and  absurdly  urge  the  shadow,  or  rather  the  skeleton  of 
ancient  precedent,  after  they  had  disembowelled  it,  and  divested  it  of  its 
very  soul  and  spirit.  In  ancient  times  the  whole  mass  of  human  popu- 
lation was  distributed  into  two  classes,  the  church  and  the  world ;  all 
who  were  deemed  incapable  of  admission  to  the  first  were  considered 
as  belonging  to  the  last  of  these. 

The  advocates  of  strict  communion  have  invented  a  new  classifica- 
tion, a  division  of  mankind  into  the  world,  the  church,  by  which  they 
mean  themselves,  and  an  immense  body  of  pious  Pedobaptists,  who 
are  comprised  in  neither  of  the  preceding  classes,  their  charity  forbid- 
ding them  to  place  them  with  the  former,  and  their  peculiar  principles 
with  the  latter.  Were  they  to  assign  them  to  the  world,  they  would  at 
once  declare  them  out  of  the  pale  of  salvation  ;  were  they  ""  acknow- 
ledge them  a  part  of  the  church,  they  would  convict  themselves  of  the 
crime  of  schism,  in  repelling  them  from  communion.  In  attempting  to 
designate  this  class  of  Christians,  compared  to  which  their  numbers 
dwindle  into  impalpable  insignificance,  they  are  reduced  to  the  utmost 
perplexity.  On  the  one  hand,  they  contend  that  they  are  not  entitled 
to  be  considered  as  disciples  ;  on  the  other,  they  loudly  proclaim  the 
confidence  they  entertain  of  their  ready  admission  into  heaven.  They 
are  acknowledged  to  possess  faith  in  an  eminent  degree,  yet  it  is  denied 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  499 

that  they  have  afforded  any  legitimate  evidence  of  it ;  and  tliough  out 
of  tlie  church,  it  is  confessed  it  would  be  the  height  of  bigotry  to 
pretend  to  invalidate  their  religious  pretensions,  to  recognise  their  va- 
lidity in  it  would  be  an  equal  impropriety.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say 
how  far  these  maxims  deviate  from  Christian  antiquity ;  nor  is  it  easy 
to  conceive  the  astonishment  their  avowal  would  have  excited  in  the 
breast  of  the  Cyprians  and  the  Austins,  I  might  add,  of  the  apostles 
and  evangelists  of  a  former  age.  Guided  by  the  simple  dictates  of 
inspiration,  accustomed  to  contemplate  the  world  under  two  divisions 
only,  that  of  believers  and  of  unbelievers,  they  would  doubtless  have 
felt  themselves  at  an  utter  loss  to  comprehend  the  possibility  of  the 
existence  of  an  equivocal. race,  who  are  to  be  treated  as  heathens  in 
the  church,  and  as  Christians  out  of  it ;  and  while  they  possess  what- 
ever is  necessary  for  an  instant  translation  to  glory,  are  disqualified  for 
the  possession  of  the  most  ordinary  privileges  of  the  Christian  church. 

As  it  is  the  province  of  poetry  to  give  to  "  airy  nothings  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name,"  if  we  cannot  eulogize  the  reasoning  of  our 
opponents,  we  willingly  allow  them  all  the  praise  of  a  creative  fancy 
due  to  the  invention  of  so  bold  a  fiction. 

The  unity  of  the  church  is  not  merely  a  tenet  of  antiquity,  but  a 
doctrine  of  Scripture,  to  which  great  importance  is  attached  by  the 
inspired  writers.  Wherever  the  word  occurs  without  being  applied  to 
a  particular  society,  the  idea  of  unity  is  strictly  preserved  by  the  inva- 
riable use  of  the  singular  number ;  the  great  community  denoted  by  it 
-is  styled  the  body  of  Christ,  of  which  every  believer  is  declared  to  be 
a  particular  member  ;*  and  the  perfect  oneness  of  the  whole  is  solemnly 
and  repeatedly  attested.  "  The  bread  which  we  break,"  says  St.  Paul, 
"  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  body  of  Christ  ?  for  we,  being  many, 
are  one  bread  and  one  body,  for  we  are  all  partakers  of  that  one 
bread."t  "  Now  ye,"  says  he,  in  the  same  epistle,  "  are  the  body  of 
.Christ,  and  members  in  particular." 

This  grand  and  elevating  conception  of  the  unity  which  characterizes 
the  Christian  church  was  ever  present  to  the  minds  of  the  fathers  ;  and 
never  do  they  rise  to  a  higher  strain  of  manly  and  impressive  eloquence 
than  when  they  are  expatiating  on  this  theme.  Thus  we  find  Ireneeus 
celebrating  that  "church  which  was  disseminated  throughout  the  whole 
world  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth,  which  carefully  preserved  the 
preaching  and  the  faith  she  had  once  received,  as  though  she  resided 
in  one  house ;  and  proclaimed,  and  taught,  and  delivered  the  same  doc- 
trine, as  though  she  possessed  but  one  soul,  one  heart,  and  one  mouth."| 
"  Every  kind,"  says  TertuUian,  "  must  be  referred  to  its  origin.  So 
many  and  so  great  churches  as  now  subsist  are  that  one  church  founded 
by  the  apostles,  from  which  they  all  derive.  Thus  all  are  first  and 
apostolical  while  they  retain  the  relation  of  peace,  the  appellation  of 
fraternity,  and  the  symbol  of  hospitality ;  which  rights  are  regulated  by 
no  other  principle  than  the  tradition  of  the  same  creed. "§  Cyprian, 
comparing  the  church  to  the  sun,  affirms  that  while  she  extends  her 
rays  through  the  whole  world,  it  is  yet  one  light  which  is  everywhere 

*  Ephes.  xxii.  23.    Col.  i.  24.  t  1  Cor.  x.  16,  17.  t  Irenaeus,  lib.  i  c.  2,  3. 

5  Tertullian,  De  Prascriptione  Hereticorum,  p.  209.    I.utetias  Parisiorum,  1675 


490  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

difluscd ;  nor  is  tlic  unity  of  tlie  body  separated  ;  her  exuberant  fer- 
tility stretches  her  brajiches  to  the  vliole  eartli ;  she  expands  her 
streams  most  widely,  yet  the  head  and  origin  is  one,  ami  it  is  one 
mother  tliat  is  so  prolific.  "Who,"  says  he,  "is  so  wicked  and  per- 
fidious, wlio  so  maddened  by  the  fury  of  discord,  as  to  suppose  it  pos- 
sible to  divide,  or  attempt  to  divide,  the  unity  of  God,  the  vestment  of 
Christ,  the  church  of  God  ?"  He  elsewhere  expresses  his  conviction, 
that  he  who  does  not  hold  the  unity  of  the  cliurch  does  not  hold  the 
faith.* 

During  the  first  centuries,  the  unity  of  the  cluirch  was  not  a  splendid 
visionary  theory ;  it  was  practically  exemplified  in  the  habits  of  recip- 
rocal communion  cultivated  and  maintained  among  orthodox  societies 
through  every  part  of  the  globe. "t  " 

So  repugnant,  however,  is  the  narrow  exclusive  system  which  w^e 
are  opposing  to  that  considered  as  characteristic  of  the  church,  that  its 
advocates  profess  themselves  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  its  meaning, 
except  in  the  arrogant  and  offensive  sense  in  which  it  is  sometimes 
employed  to  vindicate  the  pretension  of  Roman  Catholics  and  high 
churchmen.  "  Is  the  miity  of  the  church,"  Mr.  Kinghorn  asks,  "  de- 
stroyed by  nothing  but  strict  communion  ?"|  And  suppose  it  be,  what 
then?  Will  it  follow  that  strict  communion  does  not  destroy  it? 
Whether  it  has  this  effect  or  not  is  the  only  inquiry;  not  Avhether 
something  else  may  produce  the  same  effect  in  an  equal  degree.  He 
adds,  "  Is  there  any  sense  in  which  the  church  of  God  is  or  can  be  con- 
sidered as  one  in  this  imperfect  state,  except  in  that  which  will  include 
all  those  good  men  who  from  conscientious  differences  cannot  unite 
together  on  earth  ?"  For  the  conduct  of  those  good  men  who  refuse  to 
unite  W'ith  us  unless  w^e  consent  to  the  performance  of  rites  which  in 
our  estimation  are  unscriptural  and  supersthious,  they  alone  are  respon- 
sible ;  but  where  nothing  of  this  nature  is  prepared,  as  is  the  case  in 
the  present  instance,  to  deem  them  personally  disqualified  for  com- 
munion, and  on  that  ground  to  refuse  it,  is  totally  repugnant  to  every 
conception  of  unity. 

In  the  above  passage  the  author  breaks  his  mysterious  silence,  and 
for  the  first  time  acknowledges  that  all  good  men  are  component  parts 
of  the  church  of  God,  and  are  consequently  members  of  Christ's  mys- 
tical body.  But  he  who  concedes  this,  unless  he  suppose  the  Scriptures 
repealed,  must  confess  his  obligation  to  regulate  his  treatment  of  those 
members  by  the  rules  and  maxims  the  New  Testament  enjoins,  which 
prohibit  the  least  degree  of  alienation,  and  assert  the  equal  claim  to 
regard  which  each  individual  as  a  part  of  the  body  possesses ;  inso- 
much that  no  language,  except  that  which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  em- 
ployed, is  sufficient  adequately  to  represent  that  oneness  of  spirit,  that 
perfect  co-operation,  that  conjunction,  or  identity  rather,  of  interests  and 
affections  which  ought  to  penetrate  and  pervade  the  whole.     All  other 

*DeUnit.  Ecc.  p.  110,  111. 

t  See  upon  this  branch  of  the  subject  the  admirable  work  of  Dr.  Mason,  who,  hy  a  copious 
Induction  of  ancient  authorities,  has  indisputably  established  the  fact  that  every  portion  of  the 
orthodox  church  formed  one  communion  ;  and  most  ably  illustrated  themode  of  proceeding  by  which 
their  union  was  maintained.  The  depth  and  accuracy  with  which  he  has  discussed  the  subject  must 
be  my  apology  for  not  entering  into  it  more  fully 

t  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  101. 


REPL^  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  49] 

unions  of  a  moral  nature  are  in  reality  lax,  feeble,  and  evanescent 
com])are(l  with  that  which  joins  the  members  of  Christ  to  each  othe» 
and  to  their  Head.  But  will  it  be  asserted  that  the  practice  of  stricJ 
coinnumion  corresponds  with  these  ideas  1  or  that  the  treatment  of  the 
persons  wliom  it  excludes  is  a  practical  exemplification  of  the  conduci 
which  the  Christiaiw  at  Corinth  were  commanded  reciprocally  to 
maintain  ?  It  will  not  be  pretended  :  and  since  these  passages,  which 
imperatively  enjoin  such  a  behaviour  on  the  members  of  Christ,  and 
expressly  and  repeatedly  assure  us  that  his  body  is  the  church,  are  still 
in  force,  the  above  concession  must  either  be  retracted,  or  a  practice 
so  directly  subversive  of  it  be  relinquished.  If  a  society,  of  whatever 
description  it  may  be,  has  by  mutual  consent  selected  a  ceremony  as 
a  symbol  of  their  union,  those  individuals  who,  for  the  express  purpose 
of  marking  their  separation,  refuse  to  perform  the  ceremony,  have  most 
unequivocally  renounced  that  society ;  and  by  parity  of  reason,  since 
the  joint  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  established  in  the  church 
as  the  discriminating  token  by  which  its  members  are  to  recognise  each 
other,  to  refuse  to  join  in  it  is  equivalent  to  an  express  declaration 
that  the  persons  from  whom  we  withdraw,  as  personally  disqualified, 
are  not  considered  as  parts  of  the  church.  It  is  acknowledged,  how- 
ever, in  the  foregoing  passage,  that  all  good  men  belong  to  it.  But 
if  so,  they  are  also  members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  consequently 
entitled  to  exactly  the  same  treatment  as  was  enjoined  on  the  Co- 
rinthians towards  each  other.  But  supposing,  in  consequence  of 
minor  differences  of  opinion,  the  latter  had  proceeded  to  an  open 
rupture  of  communion,  and  refused  to  unite  in  the  celebration  of  the 
Eucharist,  will  it  be  asserted  that  the  pathetic  and  solemn  injunctions 
of  their  inspired  teacher  would  not  have  been  violated  by  such  a 
measure  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  is  obvious,  and  its  applica- 
tion to  the  point  under  discussion  irresistible.  The  advocates  of  the 
exclusive  system,  on  whatever  side  they  turn,  are  surrounded  and 
pressed  with  difficulties  from  which  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  them  to 
escape.  To  affirm  that  Pedobaptism  is  of  so  malignant  a  tendency  as 
to  sever  its  patrons  from  the  mystical  body  of  Christ  is  at  once  to 
impugn  their  hopes  of  salvation ;  since  the  supposition  of  a  vital  effi- 
cacy imparted  from  Christ  as  the  head,  which  fails  to  constitute  the 
subject  of  it  a  member,  is  equally  unintelligible  and  unscriptural.  The 
language  adopted  on  this  subject  is  confessedly  figurative,  but  not  on 
that  account  obscure.  Its  foundation  is  evidently  laid  in  that  derivation 
of  spiritual  life  to  the  souls  of  the  faithful  for  which  they  are  indebted 
to  their  union  with  the  Saviour  ;  for  which  reason  it  would  be  the  height 
of  absurdity  to  refuse  the  application  of  the  figure  on  an  occasion  which 
comprehends  its  whole  import  and  meaning.  We  may  therefore  with 
confidence  affirm  that  all  genuine  believers  are  alike  members  of 
Christ's  body.  But  if  this  be  admitted,  they  are  as  much  entitled  to 
the  benefit,  not  merely  of  admission  into  the  church,  but  of  all  those 
benevolent  sympathies  and  attentions  prescribed  in  the  preceding  pas- 
sages as  though  they  had  been  mentioned  by  name ;  since  the  only 
ground  on  which  they  are  enforced  is  the  relation  the  objects  of  them 
are  supposed  to  sustain  to  that  body. 


492  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

Thus  we  perceive  ia  the  principles  and  practice  of  our  opponents 
another  ghuing  instance  of  gross  violation  as  \\vl\  of  the  diclales  of 
inspiration  as  of  the  maxims  of  Christian  antiquity;  both  which  concur 
in  inculcatintr  the  doctrine  of  the  absolute  unity  of  the  church,  of  its 
constituting  Christ's  mystical  body,  and  of  the  horrible  incongruity,  I 
might  almost  say  impiety,  of  attempting  to  establish  a  system  which 
represents  a  great  majority  of  its  members  as  personally  disqualified 
for  communion. 

Once  more  ;  what  foundation  will  they  find  in  ancient  precedents 
for  the  peculiar  distinction  allotted  to  one  particular  ceremony  above 
every  other,  in  consequence  of  which  they  allow  the  cultivation  of  the 
most  intimate  religious  intercourse,  of  the  most  perfect  intercommunity 
ill  every  branch  of  worship  with  members  of  other  denominations, 
providing  they  do  not  so  far  forget  themselves  as  to  lose  sight  of  their 
disputes  at  the  Lord's  table  ?  The  Holy  Ghost  informs  us,  that  the  end 
of  Christ's  death  was  to  "  gather  into  one  the  children  of  God  who 
were  scattered  abroad."  It  seems  strange,  that  one  of  the  principal 
purposes  of  its  celebration  should  be  to  scatter  abroad  those  children  of 
God  who  are  gathered  together  everywhere  else.  Be  this  as  it  may,  we 
challenge  these  zealous  champions  of  precedent  to  produce  the  faintest 
vestige  of  such  a  practice  in  the  ages  of  antiquity ;  or  to  direct  us  to  a 
single  nation,  or  sect,  or  individual,  for  an  example  of  that  capricious 
and  arbitrary  distinction  attached  to  the  Eucharist  by  which  it  is  refused 
to  an  immense  multitude,  who  are  considered  as  entitled  to  every  other 
mark  of  Christian  fraternity. 

These  observations,  we  trust,  will  be  amply  sufficient  to  justify  the 
assertion,  that  our  opponents  have  violated,  with  respect  to  ecclesiastical 
economy,  more  maxims  of  antiquhy  than  any  other  sect  upon  record  ; 
nor  will  the  intelligent  reader  be  at  a  loss  to  perceive,  that  the  weight 
of  this  censure  is  little,  if  at  all,  impaired  by  their  conformity  in  one 
particular,  by  their  insisting  upon  baptism  as  a  term  of  communion ; 
when  it  is  recollected  that  the  principles  on  which  they  found  it  have 
no  relation  whatever  to  those  on  which  it  was  maintained  by  the  ancient 
fathers.  For  the  length  to  which  this  part  of  the  discussion  is  extended 
a  natural  and  laudable  anxiety  to  repel  the  charge  of  misrepresentation 
will  probably  be  deemed  a  sufficient  apology. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Conclusion. 

Before  I  put  a  final  period  to  my  part  in  this  controversy,  the  atten- 
tion  of  the  reader  is  requested  to  a  few  miscellaneous  remarks,  which 
naturally  arise  out  of  the  contemplation  of  the  whole  subject. 

It  is  just  matter  of  surprise,  that  the  topic  in  debate  should  be 
regarded  by  any  serious  and  intelligent  Christian  as  of  small  import- 
ance. Such  a  conclusion  can  only  be  ascribed  to  extreme  inattention, 
or  to  the  force  of  an  inveterate,  though  perhaps  latent,  prejudice,  pro- 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  493 

ducing  an  unmerited  predilection  in  favour  of  certain  systems  of  eccle- 
siastical polity,  which  are  incapable  of  sustaining  the  ordeal  of  inquiry. 
That  those  should  shrink  from  the  investigation  of  such  topics  who,  by 
receiving  their  religion  from  the  hands  of  their  superiors  in  a  mass, 
have  already  relinquished  the  liberty  of  thinking  for  themselves,  is  no 
more  than  might  well  be  expected.  But  to  minds  free  and  unfettered,  ac- 
customed to  spurn  at  the  shackles  of  authority,  and  above  all,  to  Protestant 
dissenters,  whose  peculiar  boast  is  the  privilege  of  following,  in  the 
organization  of  their  churches,  no  other  guide  but  the  Scriptures,  that 
such  subjects  should  appear  of  little  moment  is  truly  astonishing. 
The  inquiry  first  in  importance  undoubtedly  is,  What  is  Christianity  ? 
What,  supposing  the  truth  of  Scripture,  is  to  be  believed,  and  to  be  done, 
with  a  view  to  eternal  life  ?  Happily  for  the  Christian  world,  there 
probably  never  was  a  time  when,  in  the  solution  of  this  question,  so 
nmch  unanimity  was  witnessed  among  the  professors  of  serious  piety 
as  at  the  present.  Systems  of  religion  fundamentally  erroneous 
are  falling  fast  into  decay ;  while  the  subordinate  points  of  difference, 
which  do  not  affect  the  primary  verities  of  Christianity,  nor  the  ground 
of  hope,  are  either  consigned  to  oblivion,  or  are  the  subjects  of  tem- 
perate and  amicable  controversy  ;  and  in  consequence  of  their  subsiding 
to  their  proper  level,  the  former  appear  in  their  just  and  natural 
magnitude. 

Hence  in  the  present  state  of  the  church,  externally  considered,  the 
evil  most  to  be  deplored  is,  the  unnatural  distance  at  which  Christians 
stand  from  each  other ;  the  spirit  of  sects,  the  disposition  to  found  their 
union  on  the  "wood,  hay,  and  stubble"  of  human  inventions,  or  of 
disputable  tenets,  instead  of  building  on  the  eternal  rock,  the  "  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints."  They  all  profess  to  look  forward  to  a 
period  when  these  divisions  will  cease,  and  there  will  be  one  fold  under 
one  Shepherd.  But,  while  every  denomination  flatters  itself  with  the 
.  persuasion  of  that  fold  being  its  own,  the  principal  use  to  which  the 
annunciations  of  prophecy  are  directed  is  to  supply  a  motive  for 
redoubled  exertions  in  the  defence  and  extension  0/  their  respective 
peculiarities ;  and  instead  of  hailing  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  day,  as  an 
event  in  which  all  are  equally  interested,  it  is  too  often  considered,  there 
is  reason  to  fear,  as  destined  to  complete  the  triumph  of  a  party. 

If  we  consult  the  Scriptures,  we  shall  be  at  no  loss  to  perceive  that 
the  unity  of  the  church  is  not  merely  a  doctrine  most  clearly  revealed, 
but  that  its  practical  exemplification  is  one  of  the  principal  designs  of 
the  Christian  dispensation.  We  are  expressly  told  that  our  Saviour  pur- 
posed by  his  death  to  "  gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God  that 
were  scattered  abroad  ;"  and  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  design,  he 
interceded,  during  his  last  moments,  in  language  which  instructs  us  to 
consider  it  as  the  grand  means  of  the  conversion  of  the  world.  His 
prophetic  anticipations  were  not  disappointed ;  for  while  a  visible  una- 
nimity prevailed  among  his  followers,  his  cause  everywhere  triumphed: 
the  concentrated  zeal,  the  ardent  co-operation  of  a  comparative  few, 
impelled  by  one  spirit,  and  directed  to  one  object,  were  more  than  a 
i'natch  for  hostile  myriads.     No  sooner  was  the  bond  of  unity  broken, 


494  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

by  tht^  prcvaloiu'i"  of  intoslinc  quarrels  and  dissensions,  than  the  interests 
of  truth  languished  ;  until  Mahometanisni  in  the  east,  and  popery  in  the 
Mest,  completed  the  Avork  of  deterioration,  uhieh  the  loss  of  primitive 
simplicity  and  love,  combined  with  the  spirit  of  intolerance,  lirst  coip- 
menced. 

If  tlie  religion  of  Christ  ever  resumes  her  ancient  lustre,  and  we  are 
assured  by  the  highest  authority  she  will,  it  must  be  by  retracing  our 
steps,  by  reverting  to  die  original  principles  on  which,  considered  as  a 
social  institution,  it  was  founded.  We  must  go  back  to  the  sim})licity 
of  the  lirst  ages — we  must  learn  to  quit  a  subtle  and  disputatious  the- 
ology, for  a  religion  of  love,  emanating  from  a  few  divinely  energetic 
principles,  which  pervade  almost  every  page  of  inspiration,  and  demand 
nothing  for  their  cordial  reception  and  belief  besides  an  humble  and  con- 
trite heart.  Resen'ing  to  ourselves  the  utmost  freedom  of  thought  in 
the  interpretation  of  the  sacred  oracles,  and  pushing  our  inquiries,  as 
far  as  our  opportunities  admit,  into  every  department  of  revealed  truth, 
we  shall  not  dream  of  obtruding  precarious  conclusions  on  others,  as 
articles  of  faith ;  but  shall  receive  with  open  arms  all  who  appear  to 
"  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,"  and  find  a  sufficient  bond  of 
union — a  sufficient  scope  for  all  our  sympathies — in  the  doctrine  of  the 
Cross.  If  the  Saviour  appears  to  beloved,  obeyed,  and  adored — if  his 
blood  is  sprinkled  on  the  conscience,  and  his  spirit  resides  in  the  heart, 
why  should  we  be  dissatisfied  ?  we  who  profess  to  be  actuated  by  no 
other  motive,  to  live  to  no  other  purpose,  than  the  promotion  of  his 
interest. 

If  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  like  the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  admitted 
of  local  and  discordant  mterests,  and  the  possession  of  exclusive  privi- 
leges— if  it  were  a  system  of  compromise  between  the  selfish  passions 
of  individuals  and  the  promotion  of  the  general  good,  the  policy  of  con- 
ferring on  one  class  of  its  subjects  certain  advantages  and  immunities'' 
whhheld  from  another  might  be  easily  comprehended.  But  in  this,  as 
well  as  many  other  features,  it  essentially  differs.  Founded  on  the 
basis  of  a  divine  equality,  its  privileges  are  as  free  as  air ;  and  there 
is  not  a  single  blessing  which  it  proposes  to  bestow  but  is  held  by  the 
same  tenure,  and  is  capable  of  being  possessed  to  the  same  extent,  by 
every  believer.  The  freedom  Mhich  it  confers  is  of  so  high  a  charac- 
ter, and  the  dignity  to  which  it  elevates  its  subjects,  as  the  sons  of  God, 
so  transcendent,  that  whether  they  are  "  Barbarians  or  Scythians,  bond 
or  free,  male  or  female,  they  are  from  henceforth  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 
In  asserting  the  equal  right  which  the  gentiles  possessed,  in  common 
with  the  Jews,  to  all  the  privileges  attached  to  the  Christian  profession, 
Peter  founds  his  argument  on  this  very  principle.  "  And  God,  which 
knoweth  the  hearts,  bare  them  witness,  giving  them  the  Holy  Ghost, 
even  as  unto  us,  and  put  no  difference  beticcen  us  and  them,  purifying 
their  hearts  by  faith."  In  his  apprehension,  it  was  God,  the  Searcher 
of  hearts,  who  by  the  collation  of  his  Spirit,  in  his  marvellous  and 
sanctifying  gifts,  having  made  no  distinction  between  the  gentiles  and 
themselves,  decided  the  controversy.  If  that  great  apostle  reasoned 
correctly  on  the  subject,  we  have  only  to  change  the  term  gentiles  for 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  495 

Pedobaptists,  or  for  any  other  denomination  of  sincere  Christians,  and 
the  inference  remains  in  its  full  force. 

Among  the  other  attempts  to  deter  us  from  pursuing  a  system  estab- 
lished by  such  high  authority,  it  is  extraordinary  that  we  should  be 
reminded  of  the  fearful  responsibility  we  incur.  To  this  topic  Mr. 
Kinghorn  has  devoted  a  whole  chapter.  When  it  is  recollected  that 
we  plead  for  the  reception  of  none  whom  Christ  has  not  received,  for 
none  whose  hearts  are  not  purified  by  faith,  and  who  are  not  possessed 
of  the  sailie  spirit,  the  communication  of  which  was  considered  by  St. 
Peter  as  a  decisive  proof  that  no  difference  was  put  between  them  and 
others  by  God  himself,  it  is  easy  to  determine  where  the  danger  lies. 
Were  we  to  suffer  ourselves  to  lose  sight  of  these  principles,  and  by 
discountenancing  and  repelling  those  whom  he  accepts,  to  dispute  the 
validity  of  his  seal,  and  subject  to  our  miserable  scrutiny  pretensions 
which  have  passed  the  ordeal  and  received  the  sanction  of  Him  "  who 
understandeth  the  hearts,"  we  should  have  just  reason  to  tremble  for 
the  consequences ;  and,  with  all  our  esteem  for  the  piety  of  many  of 
our  opponents,  we  conceive  it  no  injury  or  insult  to  put  up  the  prayer 
of  our  Lord  for  them — -"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

He  who  alters  the  terms  of  communion  changes  the  fundamental 
laws  of  Christ's  kingdom.  He  assumes  a  legislative  power,  and 
ought,  in  order  to  justify  that  conduct,  to  exhibit  his  credentials,  with  a 
force  and  splendour  of  evidence  equal  at  least  to  those  which  attested 
the  divine  legation  of  Moses  and  the  prophets. 

It  has  been  frequently  observed  on  this  occasion,  that  every  voluntary 
society  possesses  the  power  of  determining  on  the  qualifications  of  its 
members  :  and  that,  for  the  same  reason,  every  church  is  authorized  to 
enact  such  terms  of  admission  as  it  shall  see  fit.  This  conclusion, 
however,  is  illogical  and  unfounded.  There  is  little  or  no  analogy  be- 
^tween  the  two  cases.  Human  societies  originate  solely  in  the  private 
views  and  inclinations  of  those  who  compose  them  ;  and  as  they  are 
not  founded  on  Divine  institution,  so  neither  are  they  restricted  with 
respect  to  the  objects  they  are  destined  to  pursue.  The  church  is  a 
society  instituted  by  Heaven;  it  is  the  visible  seat  of  that  "kingdom 
which  God  has  set  up ;"  the  laws  by  which  it  is  governed  are  of  his 
prescribing,  and  the  purposes  which  it  is  designed  to  accomplish  are 
limited  and  ascertained  by  Infinite  Wisdom.  When,  therefore,  from  its 
analogy  to  other  societies,  it  is  inferred  that  it  has  an  equal  right  to 
organize  itself  at  its  pleasure,  nothing  can  be  more  fallacious ;  unless  it 
be  meant  merely  to  assert  its  exemption  from  the. operation  of  physical 
force,  which  is  a  view  of  the  subject  with  which  we  are  not  at  present 
concerned.  In  every  step  of  its  proceedings,  it  is  amenable  to  a  higher 
than  human  tribunal;  and  on  account  of  its  freedom  from  external  con- 
trol, its  obligation,  inforo  conscientios,  exactly  to  conform  to  the  man- 
dates of  revelation,  is  the  more  sacred  and  the  more  indispensable  ;  be- 
ing loosened  from  every  earthly  tie,  on  purpose  that  it  may  be  at  liberty 
to  "  follow  the  Lord  whithersoever  he  goeth." 

That  these  maxims,  plain  and  obvious  as  they  must  appear,  have 
been  too  often  totally  lost  sight  of,  he  who  has  the  slightest  acquaint 


496  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KIXGHORN. 

ancc  with  occlesi;isticaI  history  must  be  aware ;  and  to  their  complete 
abaiiiiomiuMU  wf  aro  indebted  for  tlio  introduction  of  strict  communion. 
"The  Baptists,"  Mr.  Kinghorn  informs  us,  "consider  themselves  as 
holdinu;  to  notice  one  neglected  truth."*  Whether  they  have  adopted  a 
mode  of  proceeding  the  most  likely  to  accomplish  their  object  may  be 
justly  doubted.  Independently,  however,  of  any  such  consideration,  it 
iu  the  principle,  thus  distinctly  avowed,  to  which  we  object — the  prin- 
ciple of  organizing"  a  church  with  a  specific  view  to  the  propagation  of 
some  particular  truth  ;  which  is  a  perversion  of  the  original  end  and 
design  of  Christian  societies.  Nothing,  it  is  certain,  was  more  remote 
from  the  views  of  their  first  founders,  who  aimed  at  nothing  less  than  to 
render  them  the  general  depositories  of  the  "  faith  once  delivered  to 
the  saints  ;"  and  for  this  purpose  carefully  inculcated  the  whole  "truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  along  with  the  duty  of  preserving  it  incorrupt  and 
entire ;  without  the  most  distant  intimation  that  it  was  their  province  to 
watch  over  one  department  with  more  vigilance  than  another :  least 
of  all  was  it  their  design  to  recommend  as  the  object  of  preference 
an  external  cereinony,  the  nature  of  which  was  destined  to  become 
a  subject  of  debate  among  Christians. 

Let  each  denomination  pursue  diis  plan — let  each  fix  upon  the  pro- 
motion of  some  one  truth  as  the  specific  object  of  its  exertions,  and 
the  effect  will  soon  appear,  not  only  in  extending  the  spirit  of  disunion, 
but  in  the  injury  which  the  interests  of  truth  itself  will  sustain.  Every 
denomination  will  exhibit  some  portion  of  it,  in  a  distorted  and  muti- 
lated form ;  none  will  be  in  possession  of  the  whole,  and  the  result 
will  be  something  like  the  confusion  of  Babel,  where  every  man  spoke 
in  a  separate  dialect.  As  the  beauty  of  truth  consists  chiefly  in  the 
harmony  and  proportion  of  its  several  parts,  it  is  as  impossible  to  dis- 
play it  to  advantage  in  fragments  as  to  give  a  just  idea  of  a  noble  and 
majestic  structure  by  exhibiting  a  single  brick. 

What  is  the  consequence  which  must  be  expected  from  teaching  an 
illiterate  assembly  that  the  principal  design  of  their  union  is  to  extend 
the  practice  of  a  particular  ceremony,  but  to  invest  it  with  an  undue  im- 
portance in  their  eyes,  and  by  tempting  them  to  look  upon  themselves 
as  Christians  of  a  higher  order,  to  foster  an  overweening  self-conceit, 
to  generate  selfish  passions,  and  encourage  ambitious  projects  ?  Ac- 
customed to  give  themselves  a  decided  preference  above  others,  to  treat 
with  practical  contempt  the  religious  pretensions  of  the  best  and  wisest 
of  men,  and  to  live  in  an  element  of  separation  and  exclusion,  it  would 
be  astonishing  indeed  if  their  humility  were  not  impaired,  and  the 
more  delicate  sympathies  of  Christian  affection  almost  extinguished. 
In  the  situation  in  which  they  have  placed  themselves,  they  are  reduced 
to  a  necessity  of  performing  continually  those  operations  which  other 
denominations  reserve  for  the  last  extremity;  they  are  familiarized  to 
the  infliction  of  the  most  formidable  sentence  that  the  church  is  em- 
powered to  pass,  and  to  that  excision  of  the  members  of  Christ  from 
the  body  to  which  others  proceed  with  fear  and  trembling. 

It  is  freely  admitted  that  there  are  seasons  when  it  is  the  duty  of  a 
Christian  society  to  bend  its  particular  attention  to  the  exhibition  and 

*  Baptism  a  Term  of  Communion,  p.  69. 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  497 

defence  of  a  neglected  branch  of  truth,  in  order  to  supply  an  antidote 
to  tlie  errors  by  which  it  may  be  attempted  to  be  corrupted.  There  is 
no  fundamental  doctrine  whicli  we  may  not  be  called  upon  in  an  espe- 
cial manner  to  maintain  and  fortify  in  its  turn.  But  to  make  this  the 
specific  object  of  the  constitution  of  a  church  is  totally  different ;  it  is 
to  contract  its  views  and  limit  its  elforts  in  a  manner  utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  design  of  its  institution,  which  is  to  exhibit  both  the  theory 
md  practice  of  Christianity  in  all  its  plenitude  and  extent. 

An  exception,  however,  must  be  made,  where  the  truth  which  is  said 
to  be  neglected  is  fundamental.  The  assertion  and  vindication  of  such 
a  trutn  is  equivalent  to  the  maintenance  of  C'hristianity  itself,  which,  in 
common  with  every  other  system,  is  incapable  of  surviving  the  destruc- 
iion  of  its  vital  parts.  Hence  the  Reformers  were  justified  in  laying 
the  doctrine  of  justification  by  fiith  as  the  basis  of  the  reformed  religion, 
"because  the  formal  denial  of  that  truth  ii^j  incompatible  with  the  ex- 
istence of  a  church.  But  where  religious  communities  have  been 
founded  on  refined  speculations,  or  on  some  particular  mode  of  ex- 
plaining and  interpreting  disputable  tenets,  the  most  mischievous  con- 
sequences liave  resulted.  The  people  usually  denominated  Quakers 
set  out  with  the  professed  design  of  exhibiting  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit, 
which  tliey  chose  to  consider  as  a  neglected  truth,  and  the  consequence 
has  been  such  a  distortion  of  that  momentous  doctrine  as  has  probably 
contributed  not  a  little  to  subject  it  to  contempt.  The  Sandemanians 
profess  to  constitute  their  societies  with  an  express  view  to  the  revival 
of  certain  neglected  truths ;  and  the  effect,  as  far  as  their  efforts  have 
succeeded,  has  been  the  extinction  of  vital  piety.  The  high  Calvinists, 
or,  to  speak  more  properly,  the  antinomians,  are  loud  and  clamorous  in 
professing  their  solicitude  to  revive  a  certain  class  of  neglected  truths, 
and  the  result  of  their  labour  has  been  to  corrupt  the  hw  truths  they 
possess,  and  to  consign  others  of  equal  importance  to  contempt  and 
oblivion.  In  each  of  these  instances,  by  detaching  particular  portions 
from  the  system  to  which  it  belongs,  that  continuity  of  truth  has  been 
broken,  and  the  vital  communication  between  its  respective  parts,  on 
which  its  life  and  vigour  depend,  interrupted. 

It  was  reserved  for  our  opponents  to  pursue  the  same  system,  under 
a  new  form,  by  selecting  the  ceremony  of  baptism  as  their  distinguish- 
ing symbol,  and  to  degrade  the  Christian  profession,  in  our  apprehen- 
sion, by  placing  it  in  the  due  administration  of  the  element  of  water. 

Where,  it  is  natural  to  ask  (though  it  is  an  inferior  consideration) — • 
where  is  xhe  policy  of  such  a  proceeding?  What  tendency  has  it  tore- 
commend  and  to  propagate  the  rite,  about  which  such  zeal  is  exerted,  and 
such  solicitude  expressed  1  Will  the  insisting  on  it  as  a  term  of  communion 
give  it  any  additional  evidence,  or  invest  it  with  supernumerary  charms  ? 
Will  it  be  better  relished  and  received  for  its  approaching  in  the  form 
of  an  exaction,  than  if  it  was  intrusted  to  the  force  of  argument  and 
persuasion  ?  Were  it  permitted  to  have  recourse  to  intimidation  in  the 
concerns  of  religion,  where  are  our  means  and  resources  1  where  shall 
we  look  for  that  splendour  of  reputation,  that  command  of  emolument 
and   power  which  shall  render  a  state   of   separation   from   Baptist 

V0L.I.— li 


49S  UKPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KTNGHORN. 

societies  an  intolerable  sj;ricvance?  liet  us  loam  to  think  soberly  of 
ourselves,  ami  not  nuleavoiir  to  enforce  the  justest  principles  by  means 
foreign  to  their  nature,  nor,  by  substituting  an  impotent  menace  instead 
of  arsjumcnt,  subject  them  to  reprobation  and  ridicule. 

Mr.  Kinehorn  >j;ivcs  it  as  his  decided  opinion,  that  for  a  Pedobaptist 
statedly  to  attend  the  ministry  of  a  Baptist  is  a  dereliction  of  principle. 
A  threat  gulf  ought  in  his  apprehension  to  be  fixed  between  the  two  de- 
nominations. But  how  is  it  possible  on  this  system  to  indidge  the  hope 
of  effecting  a  revolution  in  the  public  mind,  when  all  the  usual  channels 
of  communication  are  cut  off,  and  the  means  of  rational  conviction  laid 
under  an  interdict  ?  If  the  hearers  of  both  denominations  are  boimd  to 
confine  their  attendance  to  teachers  who  Mill  esteem  it  their  duty  to 
confirm  them  in  their  respective  persuasions,  the  transition  to  an  oppo- 
site system  may  be  deemed  almost  a  miracle.  It  were  more  natural  to 
suppose  that  in  this  instance,  as  well  as  others  of  greater  moment, 
faith  Cometh  by  hearing,  than  that  a  crop  should  spring  up  where  no 
seed,  or  none  but  what  is  of  an  opposite  kind,  has  been  sown. 

It  is  not  a  little  curious  to  find  it  objected  to  the  principles  we  are 
attempting  to  defend,  that  they  are  adapted  to  an  imperfect,  rather  than 
a  perfect  state  of  things ;  w'hen  the  utility  of  the  entire  system  of 
Christianity  results  entirely  from  such  an  adaptation,  and  is  nothing 
more  than  a  sublime  and  mysterious  condescension  to  human  Aveakness 
and  imperfection.  What  is  the  gospel  but  a  proposed  alliance,  in  which 
infinite  purity  comes  into  contact  with  pollution,  infinite  justice  w'ith 
human  demerits,  and  ineffable  riches  with  hopeless  penury  1  "  Mixed 
communion,"  Mr.  Kinghorn  observes,  "  displays  another  genuine  feature 
of  error.  It  is  only  to  be  found  (even  on  the  concession  of  its  warmest 
supporters)  in  that  mingled  state  of  things  which  takes  place  between 
the  first  purity  of  the  church  and  the  ultimate  display  of  gospel  light. 
In  the  times  of  the  apostles  it  had  no  place  ;  nor  do  we  expect  it  will 
be  found  when  '  the  earth  shall  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  God.'  "*' 
Specious  as  this  proposition  may  appear,  it  is  in  reality  nothing  but  a 
truism.  We  both  suppose  infant  baptism  to  be  an  innovation  unknown  in 
primitive  times.  But  mixed  communion  means  nothing  else  than  the  union 
of  Baptists  and  Pedobaptists  in  the  same  religious  society.  To  say,  there- 
fore, that  no  such  practice  was  known  in  the  tiiv  of  the  apostles  is 
to  say  that  the  two  denominations  were  not  united,  v/hile  there  was  only 
one  :  a  profound  discovery,  the  merit  of  which  we  will  not  dispute  with 
this  author.  But  when  he  proceeds  to  remark  that  it  will  be  equally 
unknown  in  the  period  usually  styled  the  latter-day  glory,  we  must  be 
permitted  to  remind  him  of  a  state  incomparably  superior,  and  to  ask 
him  M'hether  he  supposes  his  exclusive  system  will  extend  there ; 
whether  the  Pedobaptist,  dying  in  the  possession  of  his  supposed  error, 
IS  disqualified  to  join  "  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect ;  to  mingle 
with  the  general  assembly  of  the  churc^i  of  tlie  first-born  ?"  If  this  is 
not  afiirmed,  let  him  reflect  on  the  enormous  impropriety  of  demanding 
a  greater  uniformity  among  the  candidates  for  admission  into  the  church 
militant  than  is  requisite  for  a  union  wdth  the  church  triumphant — of 
claiming  from  the  faithful,  while  encompassed  with  darkness  and  Jm 

*  Baptism  a  Tenn  of  Communion,  p  77 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  499 

perfection,  more  li,armony  and  correctness  of  sentiment  than  is  neces- 
sary to  qualify  them  to  sit  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the 
kingdom  of  God — of  pretending  to  render  a  Christian  society  an  en- 
closure more  sacred  and  more  difficult  of  access  than  the  abode  of  the 
Divine  Majesty — and  of  investing  every  little  Baptist  teacher  with  the 
prerogative  of  repelling  from  his  communion  a  Howe,  a  Leighton,  or  a 
Brainerd,  whom  the  Lord  of  glory  will  welcome  to  his  presence.  Tran- 
substantiation  presents  nothing  more  revolting  to  the  dictates  of  com- 
mon sense. 

Tiie  blessedness  of  a  future  world  is  ever  represented  in  Scripture  as 
the  final  end  and  scope  of  the  Christian  profession :  the  doctrines  which 
it  embraces,  the  duties  which  it  enjoins,  are  represented  as  terminating 
in  that  as  its  ultimate  object.  Religion  itself,  in  its  most  general  nature, 
is  necessary  only  in  consequence  of  the  relation  which  the  subjects  of 
it  bear  to  a  future  state :  "  patient  continuance  in  well  doing"  is  requi- 
site, because  it  is  the  only  safe  and  legitimate  way  of  aspiring  "  to  glory, 
honour,  and  immortality ;"  and  the  utmost  that  can  be  said  to  enforce 
any  particular  branch  of  practice  is,  that  it  tends  to  prepare  us  for  the 
eternal  felicity.  The  church  of  Christ  is  unquestionably  ordained 
merely  as  one  of  the  instruments  of  qualifying  its  members  for  the  pos- 
session of  eternal  life :  but  for  this,  it  would  have  had  no  existence ; 
and  beyond  this  we  can  conceive  no  end  or  purpose  it  was  intended  to 
accomplish.  In  a  system  of  means,  many  things  may  be  useful  on 
account  of  their  tendency  to  facilitate  the  accomplishment  of  their  object, 
which  are  not  absolutely  necessary.  They  may  accelerate  its  attain- 
ment, or  attain  it  with  greater  certainty  than  it  could  be  effected  in  their 
absence.  But  since  the  necessity  of  means  arises  solely  from  their 
relation  to  the  end,  that,  whatever  it  be,  without  which  the  end  may 
certainly  be  secured,  can  never  be  affirmed  to  be  necessary,  without  an 
absolute  contradiction.  Is  the  organization  of  the  church,  then,  a  means 
of  obtaining  eternal  life  ?  Is  it  ordained  solely  with  a  view  of  preparing 
rnan  for  a  future  state  of  felicity,  or  in  order  to  secure  some  temporary 
and  secular  object?  If  it  be  allowed  that  it  is  the  former  alone  which 
it  is  designed  to  obtain,  to  assert  that  baptism  is  necessary  to  quaUfy 
for  communion,  when  communion  itself  is  only  necessary  as  a  means 
of  preparing  us  for  heaven,  which  it  is  allowed  may  with  certainty  be 
obtained  without  baptism,  is  a  flat  contradiction.  It  is  to  affirm  that  what 
is  n(  essential  to  the  attainment  of  a  certain  end  is  yet  a  necessary  part 
of  the  order  of  means,  which  is  palpably  absurd. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  we  are  far  from  intending  to  insinuate  that 
baptism  is  of  little  moment ;  or  that  a  wanton  inattention  to  this  part  of 
the  will  of  Christ  is  consistent  with  a  well-founded  assurance  of  sal- 
vation :  our  sole  intention  is  to  expose  the  inconsistency  of  supposing 
an  involuntary  mistake  on  this  subject  a  sufficient  bar  to  communion, 
while  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  none  to  the  participation  of  future 
blessedness. 

Our  opponents  will  probably  remind  us  of  the  perfect  unanimity  which 
will  prevail  on  this  subject  (in  our  apprehension)  in  the  heavenly  world. 
But  when  will  this  unanimity  take  place  ?  will  it  be  previous  to  an  ad- 


500  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

mission  to  the  society  of  the  blessed,  or  subsequent  to  th;it  event  ?  II 
it  be  subsequent,  in  receiving  believers  on  the  ground  of  their  vital  union 
with  Christ,  we  follow  the  order  of  heaven,  wliich  our  opponents  invert* 
while  we  indulge  the  hope  that  in  consequence  of  coming' into  a  closer 
contact  whh  persons  whose  views  on  the  subjectof  baptism  are  correct, 
they  will  be  gradually  induced  to  embrace  them  ;  firmly  persuaded  that 
whether  this  is  the  result  or  not,  we  incur  no  danger  in  following  a  ce- 
lestial precedent.  We  are  not  surprised  at  our  opponents  making  such 
liigh  pretensions  to  purity  in  the  discipline  and  economy  of  their  churches; 
we  only  admire  their  modesty  in  not  insisting  on  their  loftiest  and  sub- 
limest  distinction,  which  consists  in  their  societies  being  more  select 
than  heaven,  and  in  its  being  more  difficult  to  become  a  member  of  a 
Baptist  church  than  to  be  saved. 

The  reader  is  requested  to  remember  the  extraordinary  positions 
which  Mr.  Kinghorn  has  been  compelled  to  advance  in  defence  of  his 
restrictive  system.  He  will  recollect,  we  hope,  that  he  has  found  it 
necessary  to  affirm  that  the  most  eminent  saints,  not  excepting  the  illus- 
trious army  of  martyrs,  made  no  true  profession  of  that  religion  for 
which  they  laboured,  and  for  which,  with  a  divine  prodigality,  they  shed 
their  blood ;  that  though  worthy  of  "  walking  with  Christ  in  white," 
and  of  joining  in  the  cry,  "  How  long,  O  Lord,  wilt  thou  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  ?"  they  gave  no  scriptural  evi- 
dence of  their  faith,  and  were  consequently  not  entitled  to  its  privileges  ; 
and  that  their  claim  to  Christian  communion  was  defeated,  not  m  con- 
sequence of  any  specific  or  peculiar  connexion  between  the  two  ordinances 
in  question,  but  solely  on  account  of  its  being  one  of  those  privileges. 
He  has  found  it  necessary  to  assert  that  the  terms  of  communion  and 
of  salvation  are  both  immutable  ;  that  if  baptism  was  ever  necessary  to 
salvation,  it  is  so  still ;  and,  consequently,  that  an  involuntary  mistake 
respecting  a  branch  of  revelation  is  equally  criminal  and  dangerous  with 
its  wilful  rejection.  He  has  found  it  necessary  to  affirm  that  Pedobap- 
tists  are  not  received  into  the  Christian  dispensation,  although  he  ex- 
presses his  confident  expectation  of  their  being  interested  in  its  blessings 
and  justified  by  faith  in  its  promises.  These  are  but  a  scanty  specimen 
of  the  wild  and  eccentric  paradoxes  into  which  this  writer  has  been 
betrayed  while  in  quest  of  new  discoveries,  and,  resolved  to  project  an 
original  defence  of  strict  communion,  he  has  quitted  the  sober  path  of 
his  predecessors. 

In  some  of  the  leading  points  of  the  argument  he  has  totally  aban- 
doned what  Mr.  Booth  considered  as  forming  his  stronghold.  Thus, 
though  he  evinces  an  extreme  reluctance  to  appear  to  coincide  with  the 
writer  of  these  sheets  in  any  thing,  he  in  fact  concedes  all  that  he  con- 
tended for  respecting  the  essential  difference  between  the  baptism  of 
John  and  that  of  Christ,  and  entertains  no  doubt  that  the  twelve  disci- 
ples at  Ephesus  were  rebaptized.  Thus  the  palmarium  argumentum 
of  his  venerable  predecessor  is  relinquished.  Mr.  Booth  contended, 
that  though  the  Pedobaptists  are  received  in  the  sense  the  apostle  in- 
tended in  that  expression,  their  right  to  the  Lord's  Supper  cannot  be 
inferred ;  Mr.  Kinghorn  denies  that  they  are ;  and  thus  the  two  cham 
pions  are  at  variance,  toto  ccelo,  on  the  interpretation  of  the  passages 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  50I 

chiefly  concerned  in  this  controversy.  As  these  passages*  form  a  prin- 
cipal part  of  the  gist  of  the  debate,  tlie  intelhgent  reader  is  requested  care- 
fully to  examine  Mr.  Kinghorn's  mode  of  interpretation ;  and  should  it 
appear  to  be  loaded  with  insuperable  difficulties,  it  may  with  confidence 
be  inferred  that  the  cause  of  strict  communion,  were  it  liable  to  no  other 
objection,  is  untenable.  He  had  too  much  acumen  to  reject  Mr, 
Booth's  solution  of  the  difficulty,  could  it  have  been  plausibly  supported. 
Conscious  it  could  not,  he  has  attempted  to  substitute  another,  which  is 
accompanied  with  still  greater,  though  perhaps  not  quite  such  obvious 
inconveniences. 

Dextruin  Scylla  liitus,  Isvum  implacata  Charybdis 
Obsidet. 

The  writer  is  far  from  anticipating  a  speedy  or  sudden  revolution  in 
the  sentiments  of  his  brethren  as  the  consequence  of  his  efforts  in  this 
controversy.  He  is  contented  to  await  the  slow  operation  of  time  in 
extinguishing  the  prejudices  which  time  alone  has  produced,  conscious 
that  bodies  of  men  are  peculiarly  tenacious  of  their  habits  of  thinking, 
and  that  it  is  wisely  ordained  that  the  conquest  achieved  by  just  and 
enlightened  principles  should  be  firm  and  durable  in  proportion  to  the 
tardiness  of  theii-^rogress.  Another  generation  must  probably  rise  up 
before  the  rust  of  prejudice  is  sufficiently  worn  off"  to  leave  room  foi 
the  operation  of  reason  and  the  exercise  of  free  inquiry  on  this  subject. 
Our  opponents,  aware  that  a  current  has  already  set  in  which  threatens 
at  no  very  distant  period  to  sweep  away  their  narrow  and  contracted 
system,  are  exerting  every  effort  to  stop  it,  but  in  vain : 

Labitur,  et  labetur,  in  omne  v^bilis  asvum. 

Mr.  Kinghorn,  while  he  acknowledges  with  extreme  regret  that  the 
younger  part  of  our  ministers  are  generally  unfavourably  disposed  to 
the  cause  he  has  attempted  to  advocate,  expresses  his  conviction  that 
further  reflection  and  inquiry  will  correct  the  aberrations  of  their  youth 
and  recall  them  to  the  ancient  path.  But  when  Avas  it  ever  known  that 
an  extension  of  knowledge  produced  a  contraction  of  feeling,  or  that  the 
effect  of  a  more  extended  survey  of  the  vast  sphere  of  philosophical 
and  religious  speculation  was  to  magnify  the  importance  of  sectarian 
peculiarij;ies  1  He  anticipates  this  effect  chiefly  from  the  perusal  of 
ecclesiastical  history, — a  profound  acquaintance  with  which  is  to  put 
them  in  possession  of  the  marvellous  secret,  that  mixed  communion  was 
unknown  in  the  ages  which  succeeded  the  universal  prevalence  of  infant 
baptism.  The  general  agreement  to  consider  that  rite  as  an  indis- 
pensable prerequisite  to  communion  during  those  ages  is  to  be  received, 
it  seems,  as  an  oracle ;  while  the  baptism  which  they  practised  is  dis- 
carded as  a  nullity,  the  sole  ground  on  which  it  was  supposed  to  be 
necessary  deemed  a  most  dangerous  error,  and  innumerable  other 
opinions  and  usages  of  equal  notoriety  and  extent  consigned  to  the 
moles  and  to  the  bats.  He  must  have  a  wonderful  faculty  of  sanguine 
anticipation  who  supposes  that  an  unfettered  mind  will  reject  the  au- 
thority of  antiquity  in  every  particular  except  that  which  suits  his  owi 

*  Rom  xiv.  1 ;  xv.  7. 


502  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

humour ;  and  after  consuloring  wliatever  distinguishes  the  ecclesiastical 
economy  of  tliosc  ages  fioiii  that  of  dissenting  societies  as  a  striking 
instance  of  human  weakness,  stop  short  in  tlie  career  of  reprobation 
just  at  tlie  point  he  is  pleased  to  prescribe.  Such  a  procedure  would 
be  (as  Cicero  observes  on  anotlier  occasion)  not  to  argue,  but  to  divine  ; 
and  it  would  be  just  as  reasonable,  after  making  a  collection  of  all  the 
peculiar  opinions  and  practices  of  Christian  antiquity,  to  determine  by 
lot  whidi  of  tliem  should  be  received. 

Far  from  indulging  the  apprehension  of  a  retrograde  motion  from 
enlarged  and  liberal  to  narrow  and  contracted  principles,  we  have  every 
reason  to  conclude,  that  the  polar  ice  once  broken,  they  will  circulate 
to  a  much  wider  extent ;  and  the  revolution  which  has  already  com- 
menced among  those  who  are  destined  to  guide  the  public  mhid,  shortly 
produce  a  powerful  eflect  on  the  people,  who  never  fail,  sooner  or  later,  to 
follow  the  impulse  of  their  public  teachers.  As  it  is  this  which  gave  rise 
to  the  present  practice,  so  it  is  still  by  a  sort  of  incantation,  by  muster- 
ing the  shades  of  the  mighty  dead,  of  a  Booth  and  a  Fuller  especially, 
who  are  supposed  to  cast  a  dark  and  frowning  aspect  on  the  petulance 
of  modern  innovation,  that  it  is  cliiefly  supported ;  and  with  all  due 
respect  to  the  talents  of  Mr.  Kinghorn,  it  may  be  co||fidently  affirmed, 
that,  but  for  the  authority  of  these  worthies,  his  weapons  would  produce 
as  little  execution  as  the  dart  of  Priam. 

Deference  to  great  names  is  a  sentiment  which  it  would  be  base  to 
attempt  to  eradicate,  and  impossible,  were  it  attempted.  But,  like  other 
offsprings  of  the  mind,  it  is  at  first  rude  and  ill-shapen.  It  makes  no 
selection,  no  discrimination — it  retains  the  impress  of  its  original  entire, 
just  as  it  was  made :  it  is  a  f  ague,  undistinguishing  admiration,  which 
consecrates  in  a  mass  all  the  errors  and  deformities  along  with  the  real 
excellences  of  its  object.  Time  only,  the  justest  of  all  critics,  gives  it 
correctness  and  proportion,  and  converts  Avhat  is  at  first  merely  the 
action  of  a  great  upon  an  inferior  mind  into  an  enlightened  and  impar- 
tial estimate  of  distinguished  worth.  The  effect  produced  by  coming 
into  an  intimate  contact  with  a  commanding  intellect  is  of  a  mixed  na- 
ture ;  it  subdues  and  enslaves  the  very  persons  whom  it  enlightens, 
and  almost  invariably  leaves  a  portion  of  its  sediment  where  it  deposites 
its  wealth.  It  must  be  placed  at  a  certain  distance  before  we  derive  from 
it  all  the  pure  defecated  good  it  is  capable  of  imparting ;  and  with  all 
my  admiration  of  the  inestimable  men  already  mentioned,  and  my  con- 
viction of  the  value  of  their  services,  I  am  persuaded  many  years  must 
elapse  before  we  entirely  surmount  the  effects  of  a  long-continued 
dictatorship. 

When  the  views  of  baptism  by  which  we  are  distinguished  as  a  de- 
nomination are  once  exonerated  from  the  odium  arising  from  the  practice 
we  have  been  opposing,  and  the  prejudices  which  it  has  necessarily  oc- 
casioned have  subsided,  we  may  justly  presume  that  the  former  will  be 
examined  with  more  impartiality ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  assign  a  reason 
for  their  having  made  so  limited  a  progress,  besides  the  extreme  disgust 
inspired  by  this  most  unchristian  and  unnatural  alliance.  It  is  too  much 
lO  expect  an  enlightened  public  will  be  eager  to  enrol  themselves  among 
the  members  of  a  sect  which  displays  much  of  the  intolerance  of  popery 


REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN.  503 

without  any  portion  of  its  splendour,  and  prescribes,  as  the  pledge  of 
conversion,  the  renunciation  of  the  whole  Christian  world.  While  the 
vestibule  is  planted  with  the  most  repulsive  forms,  while  sedent  in  limine 
Dirce,  few  will  be  intrepid  enough  to  enter. 

On  Mr.  Kinghorn's  system,  which  reprobates  the  attendance  of  the 
members  ■  of  Baptists  and  Pedobaptists  on  the  ministry  of  each  other, 
as  a  dereliction  of  principle,  to  calculate  the  ages  which  must  in  all 
probability  elapse  ere  our  principles  obtain  a  general  prevalence 
would  form  an  amusing  problem.  The  Hindoo  chronology,  which 
assigns  to  its  fabulous  dynasties  millions  and  millions  of  years,  might 
furnish  a  specimen  of  the  scale  on  which  such  a  calculation  should 
proceed ;  and  unless  some  such  passion  is  expected  to  seize  the  mem- 
bers of  other  communities  as  impelled  the  Queen  of  Sheba  to  come 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  projected 
revolution  must  be  pronounced,  in  the  absence  of  miracles,  impossible. 
What  can  be  the  motive  of  the  advocates  of  strict  communion  for  stu- 
diously presenting  every  possible  obstacle  to  the  exclusive  diffusion  of  our 
principles  ?  We  might  be  almost  tempted  to  conjecture  that  they  were 
afraid  of  losijig  their  title  to  the  appellation  of  a  "  little  flock,"  or  that 
they  consider  the  Baptist  denomination  as  an  order  of  nobility  or  of 
knighthood,  whose  dignity  is  impaired  in  proportion  as  it  is  diffused. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  spirit  of  the  age,  distinguished  by  the  superior 
expansion  of  its  views,  and  the  extensive  co-operation  of  all  sects  and 
parties  in  the  promotion  of  objects  of  public  utility,-^the  little  success 
which  has  accompanied  the  narrow  and  restrictive  system, — the  dic- 
tates of  Scripture,  and  the  movements  of  that  divine  charity  which 
those  dictates  have  impressed, — all  invite  us  to  "  consider  our  ways," 
to  retrace  our  steps,  and  endeavour  to  draw  our  fellow-christians  "  by 
the  cords  of  love,  and  the  bands  of  a  man."  When  we  have  learned 
to  "  make  no  difference"  where  the  Searcher  of  hearts  makes  none, — 
when  we  show  an  alacrity  in  embracing  all  who  love  Jesus  Christ  as 
members  of  the  same  mystical  body, — when,  in  conformity  to  the 
genius  of  Christianity,  there  is  with  us  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  neither 
Baptist  nor  Pedobaptist,  but  Christ  is  all  in  all, — the  reasons  on  which 
our  peculiar  practice  is  founded  will,  in  all  probability,  meet  with  a 
very  different  reception  from  what  has  hitherto  attended  them,  accom- 
panied, as  they  have  been,  with  a  system  of  impotent  oppression  and 
unmerited  contumely.  But  whether  these  expectations,  to  their  full 
extent,  are  realized  or  not,  we  shall  at  least  improve  ourselves,  Avipe 
off  the  reproach  of  bigotry  and  intolerance,  and  rise  in  the  esteem  of  a 
religious  and  enlightened  public,  by  convincing  them  that  our  zeal  for  a 
ceremonial  institution  has  not  betrayed  us  into  a  forgetfulness  that 
"  love  is  the  fidfilling  of  the  law." 

Thus  have  I  endeavoured  to  reply  to  the  reasoning  of  my  opponent 
on  this  subject :  whether  my  answer  will  be  deemed  by  a  discern- 
ing public  conclusive  or  otherwise,  I  trust  they  will  be  convinced 
that  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  evade  the  force  of  his  arguments, 
nor  any  thing  passed  over  in  silence  to  which  he  can  be  supposed  to 
attach  the  least  degree  of  importance.  My  anxiety  to  leave  nothing 
untouched  which  bears  any  relation  to  the  merits  of  the  controversy 


504  REPLY  TO  REV.  JOSEPH  KINGHORN. 

has  extended  tliis  reply  beyond  my  wishes  and  my  expectation ;  con- 
eeiving  it  better  to  incur  the  diarge  of  tcdiousness,  than  tliat  of  dis- 
cussing a  polemical  point  of  high  importance  in  a  slight  and  si'oerficial 
manner.  Tlie  mode  of  establishing  a  doctrine  in  opposition  to  prevailing 
opinions  and  prejudices  is  necessarily  much  more  circuitous  than  the 
strict  laws  of  reasoning  require  in  exhibiting  its  evidence  to  the  under- 
standing at  a  subsequent  period.  In  the  militant  state  of  a  doctrine,  it 
is  generally  found  necessary  to  incur  frequent  repetitions,  to  represent 
tlie  same  idea  in  a  variety  of  lights,  and  to  encounter  a  multitude  of 
petty  cavils  and  verbal  sophisms,  which,  in  its  further  progress,  sink 
into  oblivion.  When,  in  consequence  of  a  series  of  discussions,  a 
doctrine  is  firmly  rooted  in  the  public  mind,  the  proof  by  Avhicli  it  i? 
sustained  may  be  presented,  without  impairing  its  force,  in  a  more 
compact  and  elegant  form ;  and  the  time,  I  am  persuaded,  is  not  very 
remote,  when  it  will  be  matter  of  surprise  that  it  should  have  been 
thought  necessary  to  employ  so  many  w^ords  in  evincing  a  truth  so 
nearly  self-evident  as  that  which  it  is  the  object  of  the  writer  of  these 
pages  to  establish.  The  flimsy  sophistry  by  which  it  is  attempted  to 
be  obscured,  and  the  tedious  process  of  reasoning  opposed  to  these 
attempts,  will  be  alike  forgotten,  and  the  very  existence  of  the  contro- 
versy remembered  only  among  other  melancholy  monuments  of  human 
imperfection. 

Some  acceleration  of  that  period  the  author  certainly  anticipates 
from  his  present  and  his  former  productions,  though  he  is  fully  aware 
that  the  chief  obstacles  which  unpede  its  approach  are  such  as  it  is  not 
in  the  power  of  argument  alone  to  subdue.  Reasoning  supplies  an 
effectual  antidote  to  mere  speculative  error,  but  opposes  a  feeble  barrier 
to  inveterate  prejudice,  and  to  that  contraction  of  feeling  which  is  the 
fruitful  parent  of  innumerable  mistakes  and  misconceptions  in  religion. 
There  is  no  room,  however,  for  despondency ;  for  as  the  dictates  of 
Christian  charity  w-ill  always  be  found  to  coincide  with  the  justest 
principles  of  reason,  the  first  effect  of  inquiry  will  be  to  enlighten 
the  mind,  the  second  to  expand  and  enlarge  the  heart ;  and  when  the 
Spirit  is  poured  down  from  on  high,  he  wall  effectually  teach  us  that 
God  is  Love,  and  that  we  never  please  him  more  than  when  we  embrace 
with  open  arms,  without  distmction  of  sect  or  party,  all  who  bear  hia 
image. 


END  OF  VOLUME  Ir 


J 


i 


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